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ST Ua
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
American Philosophical Society
HEED Al) REE Ader Ee
FOR
PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE
VOEUME XLVM
IS,
NULLO DISCRIMINE
MDCCXLIII
PHILADELPHIA
THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
1909
PRESS OF
THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY
LANCASTER, PA.
: PRO CLEDINGS .
AMERICAN . PHILOSOPHICAL SOGTETY
HELD AT PHILADELPHIA
FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.
7 ty
Vor XLVI: JANUARY-—APRIL, 1909. No. 191.
— ae ES eS
a
, CONTENTS.
Geicienial Stones Used by ilies Australian Abareings By R. HH.
PUD Ween na trea Hae ai te ut cura a IGN's ped ah ae a Peg
The Exploration of the Upper Air by Means of Kites and Balloons ,
rey Cea dee: BOAT RY og lileao dase dy chau berate see C ie pean ean “
Why America Should Re-explore Wilkes Land! By Epwin Swirt ''
; pM EI cree NEE Gt La tao Be haw Ay ou aut ies ootisie Ghee scotante Ie iaaT eae 34
The Nation and the Waterways. By Lewis M. faa See 51
On.,a New Variety of Chrysocolla from Chile. By Harry F.);
SPELT ES CEES ce 9s Gen st nner au Meee Mees gall Re NSWMML Af te abn 65
The Purification of Water Supplies by the Use of Hypochlorites. ”
_By Wituiam Pirr Masov...... rad shaves ayeiatele/ Seataigeila © orate os ea eae a 67
The Detonation of Gun Cotton. ‘By CHARLES E. MUNROE......... 69
The Comparative Leaf Structure of the Strand Plants of New Jersey.
Soya POLO thre A RGOMBERGE Ri o6 0 Ae ne) Uathaa do hacdas s hemp eur eemmee 42
The Destruction of the Fresh-water Fauna in Western Pennsy Ivania.
By A. E. ORTMANN........ SZ esas fiat Seer tp MR IRR GCA GAA ns OS go
On Certain Generalizations of the Problem of Three Bodies. By
TD GAME OO, SNOMED wc cole ble er lad sated Saree ae Laer ree III
The Past History of the Earth as Inferred from the Mode of Forma-
Honor the Solar. Systems by \ Pf. WF SER eee. lewd os ee 119
Commemorative Addresses and Obituary Notices of Members
Deceased.
Personal Reminiscences of Charles Darwin and of the Recep-
tion of the ‘‘ Origin of Species.’’ By James BRYCE...,.... 2. eam
_\; Lhe Influence of Darwin on the Natural Sciences.. -By GEO_GE
LEW REQ TE TE STEIN Bo: Ibe NN aM Rg MOL EU RORIPineUe DDAS eM “xU
The Influence of Darwin on the Mental and Moral Sciences.
Poe BORE SPAR T PULLERTON s,. . 02.) os. 2s isa ecesloostamteee enue d) Meee
_ The World’s Debt to Darwin. By Epwin G. ConkLin ......cxxvidt
Richard Alexander Fullerton Sas, us Dates Dey ee loite
LOE TD elon OS aA GN Lo Nd Ui D8 abil arian ia ON ui AM mei Lett
Minutes of Meetings from January 1 to May 21, 1909...............5- i
f PHILADELPHIA
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American Philosophical Society
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PROCEEDINGS
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VoL. XLVIII JANUARY-APRIL, 1909 No. 191;
BEREMONIAL STONES USED BY THE) AUSTRALIAN
ABORIGINES.
By R. H. MATHEWS.
(Read January I, 1909.)
The following is a short description of some remarkable stones
used by the aborigines in certain areas scattered over the north-
western portion of New South Wales, which may be approximated
roughly as lying north of 34 degrees south latitude and west of 148
degrees east longitude. The objects referred to have been observed
by squatters and other residents of the bush in different places for
many years past, but like most other matters connected with the
aborigines, very little attention has been paid to them. They are
occasionally found lying on the surface of the ground, or only
partially exposed, on the flanks of sand-ridges, which may have
been either old camps of the natives or places of their ceremonial
gatherings. They have also been discovered below the surface,
having probably been overlaid by drifting sand or soil, or were per-
haps purposely hidden when not in use.
The scattered remnants of the tribes in the region indicated are
all more or less civilized at the present time and have ceased to use
these stones in their ceremonies, owing to the occupation of the
district by Europeans for upwards of half a century. For this
reason it is especially important that all available information should
‘
2 MATHEWS—CEREMONIAL STONES [January 1,
be recorded and published as widely as possible, in order to bring
these relics under the notice of every person who may have oppor-
tunities of obtaining further particulars regarding this interesting
subject.
The stones in question vary in length from about six inches up
to as much as two feet, but the more common lengths range from
eight to fifteen inches. They are widest at the base, gradually de-
creasing in dimension towards the other end and terminating in a
blunt point. They consist of different material, including sandstone,
quartzite, clayslate, kaolin and such other kinds of stone as might
be available.
For the present I shall describe only four of the specimens in my
possession. One is a fine-grained piece of clayslate, which when
found by the maker was probably very close to the requisite
form and needed only a little trimming or grinding to bring it to its
present shape. It is just a trifle under one foot in length by a
maximum width at the base of two and four-fifth inches, by a
thickness of one and a quarter inches. The weight is two pounds
six ounces. It was found in the bush by Mr. E. J. Suttor, owner of
Tankarooka Station, on the Darling River, near Tilpa, New South
Wales.
I have prepared two diagrams exhibiting the two wide faces and
the edge of the implement, together with a view of the extremity of
the base and have numbered the figures from 1 to 12. One face of
the stone is practically flat throughout its length, being rounded off
towards the edges on either side. The opposite face is slightly
convex.
Fig. 1 delineates the flat face of the stone, which contains a large
number of marks cut or scratched into the surface with some sharp
instrument, such as a mussel shell, a sharp flake of hard stone, or a
marsupial’s tooth. Some of them are merely well-defined scratches,
whilst others are cut into the stone about one-sixteenth of an inch.
The marking extends from the base to the apex.
Fig. 2 shows one of the edges of the implement, the marks upon
which are not reproduced, because they are continuations of those
given on the two faces. I have, however, shown the position of three
1909.] USED BY AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 3
principal incisions, which will be again referred to in dealing with
Fig. 4.
Fig. 3 is the convex face of the stone, which contains about eighty
marks similar in character to those of Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 has been introduced to exhibit the position of an irregular
spiral incision which extends quite around the implement in a little
over three folds. The firm black line on the diagram represents the
cuts facing the observer; the dotted lines indicate their position on
Scale of Inches a
Cr die 2.3 ae RG) 2), B Ce
RH M, del.
Fics. 1-5. Views of a Ceremonial Stone used by the Australian Aborigines.
the other side, if the stone were transparent. The position of the
spiral on one of the edges of the stone is shown in Fig. 2. The com-
mencement and end of the spiral appears on Fig. 1. It begins at
three and seven-eighths of an inch from the apex and terminates at
five and one-eighth inches.
4 MATHEWS—CEREMONIAL STONES [January 1,
A spiral of this kind has not been observed by me before and
consequently adds to the value of the present specimen. In a few
other cases, however, I have seen a single, continuous incised line
girdling the upper half or pointed end of the stone. In most of the
specimens in my possession, as well as in those which have come
under my notice elsewhere, a girdling incision of any sort is absent.
It is on this account that I have drawn attention to the peculiar
marking of the stone now described.
Fig. 5 is a view of the basal end of the stone. A characteristic
of all the stones of this class which I have seen consists in their
having a saucer- or dish-shaped depression chipped or ground into
the larger end. In our example there are three such depressions
ground into the end of it. (See Fig. 5.) The two smaller ones are
very shallow, although easily discernible, but the larger has a depth
of nearly one-tenth of an inch in the center. The present is the only
instance in which I have observed three of these depressions—one
only being the general rule.
Another point to which attention may be invited is the very
much elongated oval form of a section through the shaft. This is
prominently seen in Fig. 5, where the diameter is more than twice as
great in one direction as in the other. Most of the stones of this
kind are nearly circular in section, whilst an elongated oval section
is rarely met with. Again, very few of these stones are so profusely
inscribed as the present example.
Fig. 6 is a long, thin, cylindrical spindle of a very hard clayslate,
eighteen and a quarter inches long. At four inches from the base
the greatest diameter is two inches, and at ten inches from the base
(Fig. 7) the smallest diameter is one and eleven-twentieth inches.
Fig. 7 represents the implement turned a quarter round.
A large amount of chipping and grinding has been done by the
native artificer to bring this specimen into its present shape, especially
at the pointed end and near the base. About the middle of the shaft
the original surface of the stone is seen in a few patches some inches
in length.
Commencing a little over an inch and a half from the base there
are numerous incised marks, both horizontal and slightly oblique,
all the way to the apex. About half an inch from the extreme point,
1909.] USED BY AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 5
one of these incisions reaches all around the stone. At the middle
of the shaft another line encircles it, but the two ends of the line,
instead of meeting, overlap each other some two inches, and are
from one-quarter to one-half inch apart. This encircling line is
very faintly marked. There are about one hundred and forty well-
©
na Wleletel\
HIT
Fics. 6-12. Three Ceremonial Stones used by the Australian Aborigines.
defined incisions on the entire surface of this stone, one hundred
and twenty of which are accurately reproduced in Figs. 6 and 7.
6 MATHEWS—CEREMONIAL STONES [January 1,
In addition to this number there are many other marks which,
although distinguishable, are mere scratches and have evidently never
been anything more. They are of the same character as the well-
defined cuts, but much shorter.
Fig. 8 gives a view of the base of the stone, in which there is a
saucer-like depression, the average diameter of which is nearly an
inch and a quarter. This concavity has been made by picking the
surface with some sharp instrument, such as a pointed flake of hard
stone, the punctures being still plainly discernible. After the picking
out was done the surface was rubbed or ground fairly smooth. The
depth of the hollow formed in this way is a little more than one-
twentieth of an inch. The specimen was found on Buckanhee Run,
Darling River, and its weight is three pounds twelve ounces.
Fig. 9 is a soft sandstone, sixteen and one-half inches long, with
a practically circular shaft, the greatest diameter of which is two
and sixteen-twentieth inches, from which it evenly diminishes to a
well-defined point. At four and one-quarter inches from the point
there are two slightly curved parallel lines cut well into the stone.
On the opposite side of the specimen are two similar incisions, which
are not of course visible in my drawing. These comprise all the
marks on this stone.
From the thickest part of the shaft to the base the diameter
slightly decreases, until it averages a little over an inch and three
quarters (Fig. 10). The diameter of the depression in the base
averages nearly two inches and its depth is one-eighth of an inch.
The stone was found on Kallara Station, Darling River, and weighs
three pounds fourteen ounces.
Fig. 11 is another specimen of decomposed sandstone, sixteen
and five-eighth inches in length. At the thickest part the diameter
measures two and eighteen-twentieth inches, and a section through
any part of the shaft would give an almost circular outline. On
the face selected for illustration there are twenty-one incised lines,
comprising triplets, pairs and single marks.
Fig. 12 represents the base, whose diameter varies from one and
three-quarter inches to two and a quarter inches. The usual saucer-
shaped concavity has a mean diameter of nearly an inch and a half
1909. ] ' USED BY AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 7
and its depth is one-twentieth of an inch. This specimen was dis-
covered on a sand ridge on Maira Plain Station, about fifty miles
southeast of Wilcannia, and weighs four pounds and a half.
A few remarks will now be made respecting the uses of these
stones, information on this point being now difficult to obtain for
the reasons stated in the beginning of this brochure. “ Harry
Perry,” an old aboriginal of the Darling River, who died at Bourke
about a year and a half ago, informed me that although he had never
seen the stones in actual use himself, his father and other old men
of the tribe had told him that they were employed in ceremonial
observances connected with assembling of the tribe at the time the
nardoo seed was ripe. The people would be invited to meet at a
place adjacent to some low-lying ground which had been moistened
by showers during the early spring months, or over which water had
flowed in flood time, and which was consequently expected to produce
large quantities of the nardoo plant. When the natives from the hin-
terland, in whose country there was little or no nardoo, came to the
gathering at the appointed time they brought with them articles as
presents or for barter with the people who had allowed them the
privilege of feasting on the nardoo seed. My native informant be-
lieved that the stones in question were used in incantations for pro-
ducing an abundant supply of nardoo and other seed bearing plants,
as well as for an increase in game and fish. He also said that the
messengers who were sent to gather the different portions of the
tribe for these festivals, generally carried one of the incised stones
to show the purpose of his mission.
As soon as other duties will permit I shall take pleasure in sub-
mitting to this Society a further article for publication, describing
the various forms and materials of the interesting aboriginal relics
briefly touched upon in the foregoing pages.
PARRAMATTA,
New SoutH WaAtEs, October 31, 1908.
ibe XSPLORATION OF THE UPPER ARV BY aMEANS
OP KTTES AND BALLOONS:
By WILLIAM R. BLAIR.
(Read March 5, 1909.)
HISTORICAL.
The kite, so far as we know, was first made and flown by the
Chinese general, Han Sin, in the year 206 B. C. It was for a time
used in war, being employed by the inhabitants of a besieged town
to communicate with the outside, but later seemed to degenerate
into a mere toy. Games in which kite strings are crossed and cut
by the friction of one on the other are popular in China at the
present time and great skill is shown in handling the small kites
used for this purpose.
Professor William Wilson at Glasgow University and Benjamin
Franklin at Philadelphia in the years 1749 and 1752 respectively
were the first to use the kite in the study of upper air conditions.
Wilson obtained temperatures at “great elevations” by means of
self-registering thermometers, while Franklin used his kite as a
collector of electricity.
Especial interest in upper air temperatures grew out of the con-
sideration of the formula for refraction of light by the atmosphere,
and kites carrying thermometers were again used in the years 1822
to 1827; this time by the Reverend George Fisher and Captain Sir
William Edward Parry. At the same time upper and lower surface
stations and captive balloons were first used for the purpose of
obtaining temperatures aloft, the former by Sir Thomas Brisbane
and the latter by the Earl of Minto. Readings were obtained at
elevations of 400 feet with the kites and 1,340 feet with the captive
balloons.
An editorial in the Edinburgh Journal for January, 1827, con-
tains the following paragraph:
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 9
To those meteorologists who have sufficient leisure and the means of
performing such experiments, we would recommend the use of kites and
balloons for ascertaining the temperature and state of the upper atmosphere.
The Earl of Minto has obtained several very interesting results by the use
of balloons.
Ten years later, Espey, in our own country, used kites to prove
his theory concerning cloud altitudes. He held that the base of a
forming summer cloud should be as many times 100 yards high as
the temperature of the air at the earth’s surface is above. the dew
point in degrees Fahrenheit, 7. e., that these clouds form in aScend-
ing currents and that the air cools one degree Fahrenheit for every
100 yards it ascends. He was able to put his kite in the base of a
cloud 1,200 yards above the earth’s surface and not only proved his
theory within the error of observation, but found that the motion
of the kite in the base of the cloud showed ascending air currents.
He also obtained some striking electric effects, wire being used
instead of string to fly the kite.
The report of the Franklin Kite Club, about 1838, on the dis-
covery of ascending air currents gave further proof of Espey’s
theory and stated that this theory had the recommendation of the
American Philosophical Society.
A contemporary of Espey, James Swain, flew kites for the pur-
pose of determining daily the height of that layer of “ electrified
air whose positive electricity was concentrated enough to expand
the leaves of an electrometer.” Swain used No. 30 steel wire,
which he wound on a reel four feet in circumference and having
a glass axle like the one used by the Franklin Club of Philadelphia.
Steel wire is now universally used in kite flying.
In 1847 Admiral Back flew kites from the deck of his ship, The
Terror, and obtained free air temperatures over the ocean.
Up to this time the kites used have been small and rather unstable
in their flight. Little more was done with them until Archibald, an
Englishman, began to look into the mechanics of kite flight in 1883.
In the meantime mountain stations and captive balloons were
further developed in an effort to get temperature readings at greater
altitudes than had thus far been possible. An observatory was
established at Mt. Washington in 1870 and one at Pike’s Peak in
10 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March 5,
1873. The results obtained by these observatories showed, as was
pointed out by Professor Abbe and others, that the readings were
not sufficiently isolated from terrestrial influences, and attention was
again turned to kites.
Archibald showed the value of vertical planes for steering pur-
poses, constructed kites of greater lifting power and in 1887 used
them to carry up a camera. Captain Baden Powell in England,
interested in the possible use of kites in war, made them large
enough to lifta man. Eddy, at Bayonne, N. J., in 1890, constructed
a diamond kite in which the ends of the cross stick were bent back,
thus introducing a vertical component in the planes which added to
their stability in flight. In 1893, Hargrave, an Australian, invented
the box or cellular kite. This kite, although of more complicated
construction than forms heretofore used, very soon displaced them
for every purpose and seems to contain the fundamental principle
upon which all stable aeroplanes are constructed.
Eddy’s work was taken up by Mr. Rotch and his assistants at
Blue Hill near Boston, and Hargrave’s by the U.S. Weather Bureau
under the immediate direction of Messrs. Marvin and Potter.
Marvin's study of the mechanics and equilibrium of kites led him
to make some modifications in the original box pattern. The
Marvin-Hargrave kite, at present quite widely used, is not only more
efficient, but is stronger and, for meteorological uses, more con-
venient in details of construction than the Hargrave. About this
time Marvin designed a meteorograph and convenient hand reels for
the wire which were used in a series of upper air observations made
at seventeen different stations during the summer of 1898. In this
series daily flights were attempted but only 44 per cent. of these
attempts were successful, the failures being due to lack of wind or
other adverse conditions. Of the 1,217 ascensions made, about 180
were a mile in height, while two were slightly over 8,000 feet. The
observations made have been reduced and are published in Bulletin
F of the U. S. Weather Bureau.
Nearly all first rate weather services now have one or more upper
air observatories. Our own upper air work has been concentrated
at Mt. Weather, Va., under the immediate direction of the writer,
where, since the first of July, 1907, daily except Sunday, ascensions
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 11
have been made with either kites or captive balloons, the latter being
used only when the wind is insufficient to support the kites, or about
one day in twenty. The apparatus in use at Mt. Weather is still
undergoing improvement. The mean height at which daily (except
Sunday) temperature and other observations are obtained is ap-
proximately 3,000 meters, or about 2 miles, above sea level. The
highest altitude so far attained by means of kites is 7,044 meters,
about 42 miles. This flight was made at Mt. Weather on October
3, 1907. Flights closely approximating this in height were made at
the same observatory on April 14 and September 30, 1908, while the
fourth highest record, 6,430 meters, was made by the German
Observatory at Lindenburg in November, 1905.
In the same year that Hargrave invented his kite, Charles Renard
suggested the use by meteorolgists of small free balloons made of
paper or other suitable material and having sufficient lifting power
to carry up self-recording instruments. A balloon of this sort par-
tially inflated with hydrogen at the earth’s surface rises until the
gas expands sufficiently to burst it, and the instrument is let down
safely from this point by means of a small parachute.
Teisserenc de Bort, at his observatory at Trappes, Paris, and
from the decks of ocean steamers, has obtained upper air records of
great importance to meteorology with these paper balloons as well
as with kites. More recently Assmann introduced india-rubber
balloons about six feet in diameter. These are now the more gener-
ally used.
Preparatory to an ascension, this balloon is filled until the rubber
begins to stretch, 7. e., from 3.5 to 4 cubic meters, depending on the
weight it is to carry. The instrument is suspended from a small
parachute thrown over the balloon, space being provided for the
expansion of the latter to two or three times its diameter or to about
twenty times the volume it had at the earth’s surface. Sometimes
two balloons are used, one of which bursts—the other lets the instru-
ment down slowly. Records of temperature and humidity have
been obtained at altitudes of 25,000 meters, over 15 miles above sea
level with sounding balloons.
At present about twenty-five observatories—two in this conti-
nent, one in India, the others in Europe—are codperating with the
12 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March 5,
International Commission for Scientific Aéronautics, using either
kites or sounding balloons, or both. Captive and manned free bal-
loons are occasionally used. Of these observatories, the universities
of Manchester and Kasan each maintain one.
APPARATUS AND METHODS.
The site chosen for an upper air observatory is to some extent
determined by the kind of work to be done. A kite field should be
clear of trees and other obstructions that might either entangle the
wire or hinder the movements of the men who manipulate the kites.
It should be situated on an eminence just high enough to prevent its
being sheltered by any other in the immediate vicinity, but not high
enough to introduce the complications of mountain and valley
effects, unless indeed such local effects and not the general condi-
tions obtaining in storms as they pass, be the object of the study.
It is well if the country for thirty miles around in the vicinity of
the field be free from large bodies of water and inhabited, for kites
break away at times and these conditions facilitate their return.
Close proximity to a city, on the other hand, is likely to bring kite
flyers into unpleasant relationships with the local telephone and
other electric companies who transmit power on overhead wires.
For captive balloons the conditions should be the same as for
kites. Sounding balloons may be started from any place at which
the true surface conditions can be recorded for comparison with
the upper air data, except that the land area immediately to the
east should be free from large lakes and fairly well settled. The
balloons set free in this country by Professor Rotch have invar-
iably traveled in an easterly direction and landed within a radius
of 300 miles from their starting point. Each balloon carries with
it instructions to its finder for packing and shipping and informs
him that he will be rewarded for his trouble. This plan has brought
back about 95 per cent. of all sounding balloons liberated in St.
Louis, the only place in our country so far chosen for this work.
The ideal upper air observatory is one at which all three of
these methods may be used, kites and captive balloons being less
expensive and more efficient for levels up to 3,000 or 4,000 meters,
2 or 3 miles, and sounding balloons for higher levels.
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 13
The self-recording instruments used in kite and sounding balloon
work are numerous in variety. Many observatories have instru-
ments made from special designs. All are built on essentially the
same plan. A clockwork rotates a cylinder which is covered with
either a sheet of paper ruled to scale or a sheet of smoked paper
or aluminium. Upon this sheet the pens or points, as the case may
be, connected with their respective elements, trace the conditions.
Paper scales are the more convenient and are used when the tem-
peratures to be recorded are not so low as to freeze the ink. The
instruments are made as light as possible, aluminium being the metal
used in the construction wherever it can be adapted. From 750 to
1,500 grams is the usual weight of an instrument, those for use in
kites being more substantially built than those for use in balloons.
The anemometer usually consists of a small aluminium pin wheel
mechanically geared to the pen—some are electrically connected.
The hair hygrometer is the only form yet available for self-recording
purposes that is light enough. The temperature is measured with
either a bimetallic element or a partially coiled tube containing
toluene. The barometer is of the aneroid type. The order of accu-
racy of these instruments is not high. Difficulty is experienced in
keeping the anemometer properly oriented while the kite is flying.
The hair hygrometer, if kept in good condition, probably records
within less than 5 per cent. of the correct value. Records of pres-
sure are, in nearly all cases, correct to within 2 mm., in many to
within I mm. The temperature may be relied upon to one degree
Centigrade in the records obtained from most kite flights, to less in
many. When used in sounding balloons at very great altitudes the
absolute error in any element is of course greater than those men-
tioned. In this case no anemometer is used, the wind velocity
being determined from observations on the drifting balloon with
one or more theodolites.
The differences in the various instruments consist chiefly in the
way of exposing the elements so as to best obtain true records of
the conditions in the vicinity of the instrument. It is essential that
the temperature element especially be properly ventilated and insu-
lated. The method of ventilation is of course different in sounding
balloon and kite instruments. The former, being carried by the
[March 5,
OF THE UPPER AIR
BLAIR—EX PLORATION
14
‘ydeiso1oajaw prVYyIy
‘I ‘OL
SRREPCERRSUaL
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 15
wind, is in a calm except for its own upward motion through the air.
It is therefore exposed in a vertical tube at the top of which is a
funnel to insure the passage of a sufficient air current through the
tube and about the element. The latter are held by the kites in the
horizontal current in which the kite flies. The velocity of this cur-
rent is always sufficient to keep the temperature element well venti-
lated so that care need be taken only to see that the element is in
this current and screened from either the direct or reflected rays
of the sun.
The meteorographs in use need comparison with standard instru-
ments, at first to determine their scale values, frequently thereafter
to guard against error due to slightly defective elements. Before
and after an ascent the instrument is placed in a standard shelter
with standardized instruments and allowed to record. Frequent
readings of the latter are taken not only at these times but during
the entire ascension. A base line for computation of altitudes is
thus furnished, also a record of surface conditions for comparison
with those of the upper air. To facilitate this computation and
comparison, as well as to avoid errors due to the sluggishness of the
elements, stops in the ascent and descent are made at frequent inter-
vals. These stops need be for but a few minutes. Their times are
recorded at the lower station and they are easily distinguishable on
the traces. Of course it is impossible to make such stops with
sounding balloons, and consequently instruments sent up by means
of them should be, to some extent, at least, tested for sluggishness
in addition to the tests made for scale values.
The cellular kite invented by Hargrave or some of its numerous
modifications is the one most generally used for meteorological pur-
poses. The Marvin-Hargrave kite, in which three planes are put in
the front cell and the entire framework strengthened by fine steel
wire braces, is the one in use at Mt. Weather. With slight modifi-
cations in the size and shape of the planes and in the proportion and
distribution of lifting and steering surfaces, this kite has been made
to serve in all winds from 3.5 to 22.5 meters per second. The dimen-
sions of a medium-sized kite, one well adapted to carrying an instru-
ment in winds of from 5 to 10 meters per second, are as follows:
PROC, AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. I9I1 B, PRINTED JUNE 30, I909.
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1 ICES Ved aici Neen Ao aea ie Uns AC Fev Ea. aca Ui cm 204 cm,
NAVA hn op ama OR ARORA ese iA tn me Cet ee A 197 cm.
IS) rp Ula epcet vcd lets aes aN URC etm aaa 81 cm.
Wiadthe ofsiplames es: soci Asien emu ee ee cen 64 cm.
Planes TSPacey Larval tetsecseacin He ene ENCES rae eT 76 cm.
AAG Fea GIRL Atom ec Re ra Gator To ay eu ey eu a ett 3.2 to 3.8 kg.
’ There are five lifting planes, so called, and four steering. The
area of the lifting planes is 6.3 square meters, while that of the
steering planes is one third as much. Kites varying from these di-
mensions and necessarily therefore from these proportions are built
for winds higher and lower than those to which the above-described
kite is adapted. <A type of kite which has flown in winds up to 22.5
meters per second has lifting planes aggregating 5.4 square meters
in area. Its steering planes have half this area. It is a longer,
narrower kite than the one whose dimensions are given above. A
kite that has carried an instrument in winds as low as 3.5 meters
per second has for the total area of its lifting planes 11.2 square
meters.
The term lifting is not properly applied to any plane in the rear
cell of a Hargrave kite, the function of that cell being more particu-
larly steering. When a kite of the pattern described is sent up in a
fog or low cloud in which the temperature is below freezing, ice
crystals are found to attach themselves to the under side only of the
three parallel planes in the front cell, but on both sides of all other
planes in either cell, showing that practically all of the lifting is
done by the front cell. A study of the formation of these crystals
and the amount of ice deposited on different parts of a plane is very
helpful in determining the most economic width and location of
planes in a kite or other aéroplane.
At Mt. Weather we attach the meteorograph to the middle back
rib of the first kite just behind the front cell. This insures it
proper ventilation during the flight and adequate protection against
injury in case the kite breaks away. Other, secondary, kites are
attached to the line at intervals depending on the wind velocity and
in numbers depending on the length of line put out. Their purpose
is to support the wire. Twelve kites with a combined lifting plane
area of 77.4 square meters is the greatest number we have ever used
BY
MEANS
OF KITES’ AND’ BALLOONS.
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20 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR
in making a flight. They carried a line 12,100 meters long.
[March 5,
In our
highest flight above referred to 11,735 meters of line was put out on
nine kites.
Fic. 5. Method of bridling kite.
The line is of piano wire made up about as follows:
Meters. Inch in Diameter.
500 .026
500 .028
2,000 .032
3,000 .036
5,000 .040
5,000 .044
In all about ten miles of wire.
The reel is a very important part of the kite-flying apparatus.
Its design should be such that the operator can easily control the rate
at which wire goes out or comes in from 0 up to 4.5 meters per
second. This enables him to keep his kites flying even if they are
becalmed during flight, to throw them up through the calm strata
of air which are often encountered, especially in the summer months,
and, with the aid of a skilled field man, to start and land kites with
little or no breakage. Our reel at Mt. Weather is equipped with a
variable speed motor so geared to the drum that the wire may be
brought in at any rate up to 2.7 meters per second.
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1909. ] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 21
Too careful attention cannot be given to the condition of the reel
preparatory to making a flight, and in general all apparatus must be
well looked to. Failure in any one of the many details to be
attended to at this time and during the flight is almost certain to
result in some catastrophe. The field work has, for this reason, all
the interest of our best college games and the man who is not
equipped physically and mentally to enjoy such games will hardly
enjoy or make a success of flying kites and balloons. The fact that
for the past eighteen months no day (Sundays excepted) has passed
in which one or more records of upper air conditions above Mt.
Weather were not obtained speaks well for the spirit and efficiency
of the men engaged in this work at that observatory.
The power plant at present in use is equipped with a 35 H.P.
double cylinder gasoline engine, a 25 KW. dynamo, and an electro-
lyzer by means of which water is separated into oxygen and hydro-
gen, the latter for use in the captive balloons, and a gas compressor
which may be used to compress hydrogen for shipment or to make
liquid air with which to get sufficiently low temperatures to test
sounding balloon instruments. A new combination steam power and
heating plant is in process of building.
The computation of altitudes from the pressure trace of the
meteorograph record by Laplace’s formula and the evaluation of
the other elements at these altitudes is another matter altogether and
yet not devoid of interest. From five or six up to twenty or twenty-
five levels are computed in each trace, 7. e., enough to show all pecu-
liarities or changes in the temperature gradient or air currents, alti-
tudes of clouds passed through, depth of cloud and fog layers and
the highest points reached. From these data the temperature grad-
ient, 7. e., the change of temperature with altitude, usually expressed
in degrees centigrade per 100 meters, is plotted for each day and the
upper air isotherms continuously charted. The whole, with more
or less comment, is published quarterly in the Bulletin of the Mt.
Weather Observatory. <A study which has for its purpose the sum-
marizing of the first year’s data is still in progress. Valley stations
are maintained on either side of the mountain. At these, data are
collected for comparison with the surface readings obtained on Mt.
Weather, 1,000 feet above them.
SSS
22 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March 5,
Five men besides the writer are engaged in the work of obtaining
and reducing the records and in studying the resulting data. Duties
are so arranged that these men take turns at outdoor as well as
indoor work. In this way the work itself furnishes most of the
physical recreation needed. None of the routine duties becomes
especially irksome and the special lines of work are kept in better
relation to each other and to the work as a whole than would be
possible under another arrangement.
CONCERNING DATA AND RESULTS.
The history of upper air work is, as we have seen, a brief one.
The Hargrave kite and the sounding balloon are but fifteen years
old, and with them began the study of the upper air as it is now
carried on. This sort of investigation is comparatively new. The
facts already—shall we say “aired”—have been made the subject
of considerable comment. They themselves have so far had but
little to say. They are cold and, among themselves, somewhat un-
sociable facts as yet, but we have become well enough acquainted
with them to be certain that they with others yet to be “aired” or
“unearthed” constitute a law-abiding community. ‘“ Unearthed”
is used advisedly, for the energy liberated by the uranium deposits
near the earth’s surface may prove to be a considerable factor in the
origin and development of disturbances occurring in the lower strata
of the atmosphere. As a source of the energy displayed in the
storms that continually pass over us, this factor has been considered
by meteorologists as negligible compared with the energy received
from the sun. The heating of the air from this latter source is due
to the absorption by it of: (1) The direct rays of the sun, (2) the
sun’s rays which have been reflected from the earth’s surface, and
(3) the long heat waves radiated by the earth on account of its
being heated by its absorption of the direct rays of the sun. Heat
waves sent out by the earth due to other causes, such as radio-active
minerals, would be operative in this third subdivision.
Water vapor absorbs the long heat waves readily and upon its
vertical distribution in the atmosphere depends to a great extent the
altitude at which their energy becomes effective in heating the air
1909. ] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 23
and setting it in motion. Observations upon this distribution show
that at 2,500 meters the moisture content of the air is one third
what it is at sea level, at 5,000 meters one tenth. Most clouds of
the cumulus and stratus types form below the latter level. It is to
be expected, therefore, and we are not disappointed in finding, ‘that
this lower stratum of air is in continuous and complicated motion,
vertical currents as well as horizontal obtaining. Above this stratum
the air movement seems to be less complex.
When an air mass i$ heated to a temperature higher than that of
the air about it, as we now see may be the case near the earth’s sur-
face, an unstable condition obtains and convection currents set in.
A body of air rising to higher levels is cooled by its own expansion
as it passes into the rarer atmosphere. This is called adiabatic
cooling. If the body of air in question were dry, the rate of adia-
batic cooling would be about one degree Centigrade per 100 meters,
or one degree Fahrenheit per 180 feet. If it contain moisture, it
will not cool so rapidly for the moisture in condensing gives off
its latent heat into the air. This effect is a function of the relative
humidity and tends to accelerate the upward motion and postpone
the return of stable conditions. Sufficient condensation soon takes
place, so that heat from this source ceases to offset the adiabatic
cooling, and the convection current finds its upper limit. Other
moist air coming in from below supports the system thus set up,
and the whole moves with the upper westerly wind. This sort of
circulation on a larger or smaller scale, more or less modified by
other circulations of the same sort, is in progress continuously. An
almost unmodified type of it may often be observed during the sum-
mer months in the formation of a single cumulus cloud. The cloud
formation shows the outlines of the ascending air column. The
horizontal air movement is slight at such times and the column
nearly vertical.
We should expect to find then that the change of temperature
with altitude is less in the lower moist stratum of the atmosphere
than in that immediately above it and always, when mean conditions
for a sufficiently long time, say a year, are considered, less than the
adiabatic rate of cooling for dry air, some moisture being present at
all altitudes. The sounding balloon observations in middle Europe,
24 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March s,
MEAN TEMPERATURES AT DIFFERENT ELEVATIONS ABOVE MOUNT WEATHER, JANUARY AND JULY, 1908.
Fic. 7. Mean gradients for January and July, 1908.
1909.] BY (MEANS (OF, KIEES AND BALLOONS. 25
as compiled by Hann, give the mean gradient up to 3,000 meters
as .45 degree Centigrade per 100 meters, while at twice this altitude
the temperature change is .70 degree Centigrade per 100 meters.
Within the moist stratum itself, observations on the relative
humidity show that the yearly minimum at the earth’s surface occurs
in the summer months. The result is that condensation begins at
higher levels in summer than in winter. The temperature gradient
responds to these conditions, being greater nearer the earth’s surface
and less near the upper region of the moist stratum in summer than
in winter. Values closely approximating the adiabatic rate are often
found for the first 500 meters above sea level in the summer months.
Comparison of the mean temperature gradients as observed in
Europe and in this country, at Mt. Weather and Blue Hill, points
to the fact that condensation takes place at lower levels in western
Europe than here. This is reasonable when the comparatively dry
surface conditons which obtain on our continent are taken into
consideration.
It follows from the above that the moist or storm stratum is:
(1) Deeper in summer than in winter, (2) deeper over a conti-
nent than over the ocean or smaller land areas. Convection cur-
rents are more sluggish where the relative humidity at the surface
is low and therefore the barometric changes are less pronounced:
(1) In summer than in winter, (2) in continental than in insular
climatic conditions. Upon these considerations alone we should
expect the deeper storms to be the less intense, but this is not in
general true and another factor, viz., the velocity of the upper
westerly winds, must be taken into consideration. By storm inten-
sity is meant the suddenness of the changes brought about by the
passage of the storm—probably best measured by the barometric
changes.
These upper currents apparently control the rate of motion of the
storms. Their velocities are found to vary with altitude, increasing
up to heights of 10,000 or 12,000 meters. They also vary with
the seasons. At an altitude of 3,000 to 5,000 meters their mean
velocity for January is found to be fully one and a half times the
mean for July. It follows that, for a given season, the deeper
storms move faster, 7. e., continental and insular climatic conditions
BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR
Fic. 8. Temperature gradient showing permanent inversion.
[March 5,
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 27
are respectively characterized by more and less rapidly moving
storms. The effect of rapid motion upon a storm should be in
general to intensify it, for, the more rapidly it moves, the greater
the quantity of moist surface air that will be drawn up into it, and
consequently the greater the amount of latent heat liberated because
of the moisture condensation.
The conclusion is that, for a given location and season, the depth
of a storm should indicate something of its rate of movement and
consequently of its intensity. This is in accord with the experience
at Mt. Weather.
It is said that American storms are more intense than those of
Europe. If this be true, it is directly because of their more rapid
motion and indirectly because of their greater depth.
Summer storms are less intense than those of winter. They are
not only deeper but move less rapidly.
Cyclonic storm paths are, in general, found to pass through the
regions of greater surface humidity. They seldom cross the arid
or dry mountain regions, but travel along the great river basins,
over the Great Lakes or along the gulf and ocean coasts.
So far the mean temperature change with altitude has been con-
sidered in two strata of the atmosphere: the lower, moist or storm
stratum extending from sea level up to 4,000 or 5,000 meters, and
the stratum above extending thence to 10,000 or 12,000 meters above
sea level. In the first the mean temperature gradient is about .5
degree Centigrade per 100 meters, in the second about .7 degree
Centigrade per 100 meters. The mean temperature at the top of
the first stratum is about —10 degrees Centigrade, at the top of
the second about —65 degrees Centigrade.
Above these strata still a third distinct stratum has been explored
to an altitude of 25,000 meters above sea level. The striking pecu-
liarity of this stratum is that in it the temperature increases from
its base upward as far as it has been sounded. Its temperature
gradient is small but negative. It was at first called the isothermal °
layer because the temperature seemed to change but little with
altitude. Later observations, however, show a decided negative
gradient or inversion of temperature and in consequence it is often
called the upper or permanent inversion, the adjective being neces-
28 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March 5,
sary to distinguish it from temporary inversions frequently found
in the lowest of the three strata described. The existence of the
permanent inversion is a well established and interesting fact. Of
the many balloons sent into it, only a few have been followed
all the way up with the theodolite, consequently the wind velocities
have been but little observed. The winds are found to be variable
and of low velocity, 3.5 meters per second has been observed. This
is in pronounced contrast to the prevailing west winds of extremely
high velocity which characterize the layer just below it. Leading
meteorologists still differ as to the explanation of this warm stratum.
Their opinions may be found in the October 1, 1908, number of
Nature in the form of a report of the discussion organized on this
subject by the committee of Section A of the British Association.
Isothermal charts, such as the one for the first two weeks in
August, 1908 (Fig. 6), illustrate the change in the upper air tem-
peratures with the time. The daily rise and fall of temperature is
seen to extend to about 1,500 meters above the surface. Super-
posed upon this and somewhat complicated by it is an aperiodic
change which follows the passage of high and low barometer over
the station. This sort of change extends up to the permanent inver-
sion. Still a third change in temperatures aloft with time has an
annual period. The time of greatest cold occurs near the earth’s
surface in January, at an altitude of 5,000 to 7,000 meters it comes
in March and April, 7,000 to 9,000 meters in July, and 9,000 to
11,000 meters in September.
Means of temperature records from 581 balloon ascensions made
by Teisserenc de Bort show that the greatest annual fluctuation in
temperature occurs at an altitude of 6,000 meters above sea level,
i. e., about the base of the second stratum above mentioned. From
this level up the annual fluctuation decreases gradually. Almost as
great a change occurs at the base of the lower stratum, 7. e., near
the earth’s surface. In this layer the fluctuation reaches a minimum
at an altitude of 3,000 meters. These facts compel us to set aside
the idea not long ago prevalent that, at an altitude 7,000 to 9,000
meters above sea level, the temperature should be constant through-
out the year.
Special interest attaches to the particular study of the peculiari-
BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 29
1909. ]
‘2061 ‘61 0} SI Jaquiajdag JO UOISIOAUT dInj}eJoduI9}] sy, “6 ‘DIT
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30 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March 5,
ties in the temperature gradient as recorded from day to day in the
lower stratum, since these, together with the wind directions and
velocities, must be relied upon for a knowledge of the air circula-
Fic. 10. Horizontal projection of path of a sounding balloon, Uccle,
Belgium, July 25, 1907.
tion in particular storms as they pass. Among the most interesting
of these peculiarities are the inversions. Fig. 9 shows a charac-
teristic series beginning on September 15, 1908, and ending Septem-
ber 19, 1908. The advent of this inversion is preceded by a small
temperature change with altitude at 2,900 meters on September 14.
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. ai
———"|
FEBRUARY 26)
PROC. AMER, PHIL. SOC. XLVIII. I9I C, PRINTED JULY 2, 1909.
Weather map of February 26, 1908.
Ie, ate.
32 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March s,
During these five days an area of high pressure which was central
over Vermont on the fifteenth moved southwestward over the
observatory. The highest pressure in this area was 775.2 mm. on
the morning, of the fifteenth; this decreased to 765.0 mm. on the
morning of the nineteenth. Under the influence of this area of
high pressure, the surface wind was northeast on the fourteenth,
southeast on the fifteenth and northwest during the remainder of
the period. On the fourteenth and fifteenth the change in wind
direction with altitude was counter-clockwise, while during the
remainder of the period it was clockwise. The upper current in
which the inversion occurred varied from north-northeast on the
fifteenth to north-northwest on the nineteenth. These warmer
northerly winds aloft are apparently due to an area of low pressure
which was central about 300 kilometers east of the southern ex-
tremity of Florida at 8 a.m. on the fourteenth and moved north-
northeast along the coast, reaching the Gulf of St. Lawrence at 8
a.m. on the nineteenth. This area of low pressure seems to have
overhung the weak area of high pressure.
Fig. 10 shows the horizontal projection of the path of a sound-
ing balloon. It illustrates not only the variability of the winds
both as to direction and velocity with altitude, but the method of
determining these elements when sounding balloons are used. | What-
ever the wind direction at the surface, the kites do not often go
more than 3,000 meters high without coming into a wind with a
strong westerly component. These changes in the wind, together
with the temperature gradient, enable us to get the depth of a great
many of the storms as they pass us.
Fig. 11 shows the map for February 26, 1908. The wind direc-
tions shown by the flight of this day were as follows:
SUPlace! nwt ae sele Cee CLE Ce eee ete es NW.
T OOO THELELS) 2% syatens ns sda yee AGIs aa ote Mice vies ces WNW.
A OOO MA TCLELS Svc, cess 2 ose Pee EL GREE Ee Der ree ocags Sees W.
SOOO MIETEHS 05.0.5. =: +, 012 ciate ata Meee ea Tear chain toes WSW.
A000 MNECEES: is5:3 0:35 bos Se Oe OL Eine ce co eaters SW.
The peculiar arrangement of the two low pressure areas in the
northeast is the interesting feature. The wind directions observed
on this day during the kite flight show that the small or secondary
low pressure area was only 2,000 meters deep. At this altitude the
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 33
kites swung into a W. to SW. wind appropriate to the circulation
about the center of the primary low pressure area. The kite en-
tered the circulation of the primary low at a lower level in the
ascent than in the descent. This is shown both by the variation of
the wind with altitude and by a slight inversion of temperature
which occurred at an altitude of 1,768 meters in the ascent and at
2,600 meters in the descent. The secondary low is the center of a
deepening storm, and its motion of translation becomes more rapid
as its altitude increases. We find on the map for the next day that
it has become the chief storm center.
Aside from this sort of study of the data obtained in the upper
air work at Mt. Weather, the peculiar features of each day’s record
of conditions aloft are telegraphed to the Forecast Division in
Washington at 8 p.m. They frequently prove of value in the
making of the forecast. We have, however, but the one station at
which the upper air is explored and, unless the disturbance with
which the forecast for the day has chiefly to do is operating in our
vicinity, we are unable to furnish much helpful information about it.
It happens sometimes that on a day when a flight of a certain
height would be of especial interest, the winds are insufficient to
carry the kites to the desired levels. The use of sounding balloons
at Mt. Weather is inadvisable because of its proximity to the ocean.
However, enough is being done to make the present work very much
worth while, and to show us that the value of three or four stations
at which both kites and balloons could be used would be inestimable
in obtaining general as well as particular information of the storms
as they pass. The latter, in the light of the former, should add to
the accuracy of the forecast and perhaps extend the period for which
a reasonable forecast may be made.
In this paper results based on upper air records of temperature,
humidity, wind direction and velocity only have been touched upon.
Kites and balloons furnish us the means of getting at electrical
potentials and other electrical phenomena in the upper air, also may
be the means of measuring the amount of insolation at different
levels, all of which, as seen in the morning twilight time, promise to
contribute much to the brightness of the day that is dawning in this
field of applied physics.
WHY AMERICA SHOULD RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND.
CPLrATE (I)
By EDWIN SWIFT BALCH.
(Read April 22, 1909.)
1
In the year 1899 Sir Clements R. Markham, then president of
the Royal Geographical Society, read a paper “The Antarctic
Expeditions’! before the International Geographical Congress at
Berlin. In this paper he mentioned the names and work of many
Antarctic explorers, but he omitted the names of Wilkes and
Palmer, and, in fact, he did not refer to any American. More-
over, he proposed to divide the Antarctic regions into four quad-
rants, all of which were to receive English names, and over the
land which for fifty years has borne the name of “ Wilkes Land,”
he intended to affix the term “ Victoria (Quadrant.”
This remarkable attitude towards Americans, of a man holding
such a prominent scientific position in England, arrested the atten-
tion of the writer, who began to study carefully Antarctic litera-
ture to find out on what Sir C. R. Markham based his opinions.
It did not take long to become aware that although there were
plenty of papers and some books of explorations about the South
Pole, yet there was nothing in the shape of a connected history
which was in the least accurate. Many things were omitted, and
what was not forgotten was often wrong. A then recently pub-
lished book “ The Antarctic Regions,” by Dr. Karl Fricker, teem-
ing with errors and prejudice, was a shining example of this worth-
less method of writing geographical history.
That American explorers were thrown aside, was also evidently
partly the fault of American writers. Wilkes was neglected,
Palmer almost forgotten, and Pendleton entirely so, by their
The Geographical Journal, 1899, Vol. XIV., pp. 473-481.
34
1909.] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 35
countrymen. Under these circumstances, why should others think
of them? And yet America’s record in the Antarctic is a brilliant
one, indeeed the most brilliant of any nation!
It has taken the writer years of hard work, studying records
and maps, and ransacking libraries and archives in America and
Europe, to gradually work out the evolution of the discovery of
the Antarctic regions. Beginning with a letter to The Nation? in
answer to Sir C. R. Markham, following this with a long paper
“ Antarctica, a History of Antarctic Discovery,’* then again with
a longer book “ Antarctica,’* and another paper “ Antarctica
Addenda,’® it has proved necessary to supplement this with still
another one, “Stonington Antarctic Explorers,’® and even yet the
history is incomplete.
It soon became apparent, while working up the various records,
that the nomenclature of the Antarctic regions was in a state of
hopeless confusion. In many cases the names originally given by
the discoverers had been superseded by names given by later trav-
elers. Such was the case with the ‘‘ Powell Islands” justly so called
and so first charted after their discoverer, the English sealer George
Powell, which was superseded by the meaningless name “ The South
Orkneys.” The name “ Palmer Land” wandered all over the map,
according to the fancy of the map maker. The name “ Graham
Land,” belonging to a small stretch of coast, was often applied
to the whole massif of known lands in the western Antarctic. This
arose from a curious cause. Graham Land lies some four degrees
south of the Shetlands, and on Mercator charts, owing to the enor-
mous relative increase in size for every degreee of latitude south,
Graham Land swelled to inordinate dimensions, and the name was
printed in giant letters, which pushed it into an unwarranted
prominence.
The most curious thing of all was that there was no generic
name by which to distinguish the lands which could be reached from
South America, from those which could be reached from Australia.
? May I0, 1900.
$ Journal of the Franklin Institute, 1901, Vol. CLI. and Vol. CLI.
* Philadelphia, Allen, Lane and Scott, 1902.
5 Journal of the Franklin Institute, February, 1904.
°* Not yet published.
36 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
“The lands lying south of South America” and “The lands lying
south of Australia” were impossible titles to use in writing. It
was necessary to invent something shorter, and in 1902, the writer
proposed the names “West Antarctica”’ and “East Antarctica”
to distinguish Antarctic lands in the western hemisphere from those
in the eastern hemisphere, and first placed those names on a chart.
Dr. Otto Nordenskjold, while wintering at Snow Hill, felt the
necessity of such a nomenclature and invented independently the
names “ West Antarktis ” and “ East Antarktis,’ which on his return
he decided, after reading the writer’s ‘“ Antarctica,” to change to
“West Antarctica ” and. “Hast /Antarctica:’?
The name “ West Antarctica” has already been placed on sev-
eral maps, but apparently only attached to the South Shetlands,
Palmer Land and Graham Land mass. Of course, ‘West Ant-
arctica’ should include all the lands in the western Antarctic, such
as Coats Land and King Edward Land, just as “ East Antarctica”’
should include all the lands in the eastern Antarctic, namely, Wilkes
Land, Victoria Land, and Enderby Land.
Little by little, as the writer unearthed neglected printed records
and manuscripts, a grand story of forgotten American enterprise
and pluck was revealed. As far back as the year 1800, Captain
Swain, of Nantucket, discovered in Antarctic waters a small island,
which was reported afterwards as sighted by two other Americans,
Captain Macy and Captain Gardner. In 1819-1820, Captain Shef-
field and Mate N. B. Palmer reached the newly discovered South
Shetlands on a sealing voyage. In 1820-1821, Captain Nathaniel
B. Palmer discovered the coast of the northern mainland of West
Antarctica, which was rightfully called Palmer Land. In 1821-
1822, Captain N. B. Palmer sailed along this coast, and afterwards,
in company with the English sealer Powell, discovered the Powell
Islands. In 1822-1823, Benjamin Morrell sailed over part of the
Antarctic Ocean, and sighted some of the coasts of West Ant-
arctica, south and east of the Shetlands. Before 1828, Benjamin
Pendleton sailed south and west from the Shetlands, and discovered
the coast, afterwards called Graham Land, and the entrance of a
great strait, doubtless Gerlache Strait. In 1830, Nathaniel B. Pal-
7“ Antarctica or Two Years amongst the Ice of the South Pole,” p. 69.
1909. ] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 37
mer and Alexander S. Palmer explored a large section of the Ant-
arctic Ocean, west of the Shetlands.
In 1839 and 1840, the United States Exploring Expedition, under
the command of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, U. S. N., made two
voyages to the Antarctic. The first was in West Antarctica, to the
Shetlands and along the coast of Palmer Land. The second was in
East Antarctica. Starting from Australia,in January and February,
1840, Wilkes discovered the coast of East Antarctica and sailed along
it for about 1500 miles. To this coast he gave the name of “ The
Antarctic Continent,” but geographers have gradually and rightfully
renamed it ‘ Wilkes Land.” While Wilkes did not see the whole
coast of Antarctica, yet he saw enough to make it certain that there
was a continental land mass at the South Pole. Geographers have
hardly even yet, and Americans in general have certainly not, real-
ized what a great discovery Wilkes made. There have been only
three continents discovered since ancient times, America, Australia
and Antarctica, and Americans ought to be proud that the discovery
of the third was made by Americans.
Shortly after Wilkes came the sealer Smiley, of whom there are
unfortunately almost no records. There is one, however, hitherto
unnoticed, which is interesting. On a globe, manufactured by Gil-
man Joslin in Boston and copyrighted by Charles Copley in Wash-
ington in 1852, which is now in the Academy of Natural Sciences
in Philadelphia, is charted ‘South Shetland” and south of this in
about 69° S. lat. “I. of Alexander,” and in about-72° ‘S. lat.
“Smilies I.” Smiley is known to have gone far south, but whether
he actually went beyond Alexander Land, or was only the second
to resight the Russian discovery, can, however, not be inferred from
this. In our generation many voyages have been made by Amer-
ican sealers, Captains Osbon, Eldred, Glass, Buddington, Lynch,
Fuller and others, principally to various parts of West Antarctica
in a search for fur seal skins.
To-day, however, America is no longer doing her share in the
exploration of the continent discovered by Americans. Other
nations are doing all the work and reaping all the glory. The
“Frozen White Continent’? remains the one great unexplored area
on the surface of the earth, and towards the end of the nineteenth
38 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [Aprii 22,
century, it began to exercise the irresistible fascination of the
unknown on the thoughts of geographers and explorers. And
nobly have Europeans answered the call. A Belgian expedition,
under de Gerlache, explored the strait which bears his name, and
traced by soundings a long piece of the continental shelf of West
Antarctica. A mixed expedition, under Dr. Borchgrevink, wintered
in Victoria Land. A German expedition, under Dr. von Drygalski,
discovered a new portion of the coast of East Antarctica, Kaiser
Wilhelm II. Land, and confirmed the existence of Wilkes’ Termina-
tion Land. ‘A Swedish expedition, under Dr. Nordenskjold, ex-
plored and charted the eastern coast of the northern mainland of
West Antarctica, the unnamed stretch of which, between King Oscar
II. Land and Joinville Island, should certainly bear the name of
“Nordensjold Land.” A Scotch expedition, under Dr. Bruce,
sailed and sounded in the Weddell Sea, and discovered an unknown
part of the coast of Antarctica, “Coats Land.” An English expedi-
tion, under Captain Scott, explored and charted Victoria Land and
discovered King Edward VII. Land. A French expedition, under
Dr. Charcot, reéxplored Gerlach Strait and the outlying archipelago,
and sighted, south of Graham Land, a new piece of coast, which
Charcot called “ Loubet Land,” but which might well be renamed
“Charcot Land.” An English expedition, under Lieutenant Shack-
elton, last January reached, it is reported by cable, 88° 23’ S. lat.,
162° E. long., and also the South Magnetic Pole, 72° 25’ S. lat.,
154° E. long. And, at the present moment, a French expedition,
under Dr. Charcot, is wintering somewhere in West Antarctica.
Is it not time for America to once more put her shoulder to the
wheel and help science dispel ignorance? And if she does, what
ought she to do? She ought to reéxplore Wilkes Land, and get
a more accurate chart of its shores. Why? First, because Wilkes
Land is an American discovery; second, because little is known
about it; and third, because so much doubt has been cast on Wilkes
and Americans by some foreign geographers.
I say but little is known of Wilkes Land. For some reason
explorers have fought shy of its icy shores. The French admiral
Dumont d’Urville landed in one bay of its coast; the English sealer
Balleny caught a glimpse of it at one spot; and the German Dr. von
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1909.] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 39
Drygalski reached the extreme western end: otherwise nothing has
been done there since the immortal cruise of gallan Charles Wilkes.
The doubts and slurs cast on Wilkes’s discovery are another
paramount cause why Americans should reexplore Wilkes Land.
It should be looked on as a national duty to do so. It is unfortu-
nately necessary in this connection to speak anew of the abuse and
the disbelief heaped on Wilkes. The whole trouble was started
by Sir James Clarke Ross. Angered at being forestalled in the
discovery of Antarctica, Ross wrote most unfairly about Wilkes.
Although Ross had Wilkes’s book before him, and could read there
the “Instructions ”’® directing Wilkes to go to the Antarctic, yet
Ross wrote as if Wilkes had no business to do so when an English
expedition was expected to go there the following year. Ross did
not go to Wilkes Land nor anywhere near it, yet he deliberately left
all of Wilkes’s discoveries off his chart.®
Accepting the angered fancies of Ross as facts, many writers
wrote disparagingly of Wilkes.1° The most vehement of his op-
ponents was Sir Clement R. Markham, who, after many times
speaking of Wilkes as if Wilkes were utterly unreliable, finally
reached the stage when he thought he could simply omit all refer-
ence to American Antarctic explorers. Owing to his important
position, however, of president of the Royal Geographical Society,
Markham’s opinions naturally carried great weight in England and
affected the judgment of younger men, chief among whom was Cap-
tain Robert F. Scott.
Captain Scott commanded the British Antarctic expedition to
Victoria Land in 1901-1904. On his return northward, when in
about the latitude of Hudson Land, he altered his course, and sailed
due west for about nineteen degrees of longitude. When within
about fifteen or twenty miles of Wilkes’s “Cape Hudson,” Scott
turned northward and returned to Australia. He therefore did
not go to any part of Wilkes Land. Nevertheless he asserts with
the greatest emphasis in his book" that once for all he has definitely
8“ Narrative United States Exploring Expedition,” Vol. 1, p. xxvil.
®°“ Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctjc
Regions.” See “ Antarctica,” by Edwin Swift Balch.
” See “ Antarctica,’ by Edwin Swift Balch, pp. 169, 176-178, 211.
1“ The Voyage of the Discovery.”
\
40 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
disposed of Wilkes Land and that it must be expurgated from the
charts. But as Captain Scott did not go to Wilkes Land, his ukase
about it, which is really nothing but a reflex of Sir Clements R.
Markham’s anti-American prejudices, will be politely pigeonholed
by the douma of world geographers. Captain Scott is also quite
unconscious of the fact that Hudson Land may easily be fifty or
one hundred miles further south than Wilkes supposed, and that
even if this is so, it would not in the least invalidate Wilkes’s
discovery.
Captain Scott’s chart shows his track towards Wilkes Land and
his turn away from it. Scott admits that he was on the continental
shelf, because he took soundings four times in shallow waters. But
there is a curious fact connected with these four soundings. In
Scott’s book they are given as 250 fathoms, 254 fathoms, 245 fath-
oms, and 260 fathoms; but on Scott’s chart they are given as 256,
354 y. m., 248 m., 204 m. Not only does Scott disagree with him-
self about these soundings, but he disagrees with Lieutenant Armi-
tage, his second in command, who in his book!” puts down these
soundings as 256 fathoms, 354 fathoms, 284 fathoms, and 264 fath-
oms, and says: “Although we did not see land, our soundings
indicated that it was not very far off.” Moreover Scott and Armi-
tage also disagree about the weather. Scott says: ‘“‘ The sky has
been dull, but the horizon quite clear; we could have seen land
at a great distance;” but Armitage says: “The weather was not
the kind in which one could see any great distance.” It is to be
hoped that Captain Scott’s other observations are less contradictory
than those he made near Wilkes Land, whose proximity apparently
affected his observing powers.
Probably, however, the most curious fact in regard to Sir J. C.
Ross’s and Captain Scott’s decision to expurgate Wilkes Land out
of the world, is that the expeditions which they respectively com-
manded proved absolutely the existence of Wilkes Land. For they
discovered and explored Victoria Land. And Victoria Land, a long
range of high mountains, fronting to the east on Ross Sea and the
Great Ice Barrier, is backed on the west by an ice cap some 9,000
feet in thickness. Now this ice cap, the main plateau of East Ant-
%“Two Years in the Antarctic.”
1909. ] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 41
arctica, cannot vanish into thin air or disappear in a hole in the
ground: it must have a northern and western edge somewhere.
And common sense points out that the northern and western edge
of this great ice plateau is Wilkes Land.
Ni
While it is perhaps impossible to determine positively who first
suggested an American Antarctic expedition, it is probable that it
was Dr. Frederick A. Cook. As far back as 1894, he published a
paper “A Proposed Antarctic Expedition.”1* Dr. Cook wished to
explore the northern mainland and islands of West Antarctica, and
thought $50,000 would cover the expenses. His proposition un-
fortunately met with no response, or the discoveries of Palmer and
Pendleton would doubtless have been verified and enlarged by
Americans.
In the year 1899 Mr. Albert White Vorse published a strong
plea’* in favor of an American Antarctic expedition, winding up in
What, then, is the profit in dragging out of the dust of libraries its
forgotten scandals? There can be but one excuse for it: the hope that
national pride may be moved to send forth a second Antarctic expedition
that shall retrieve the mistakes of the first one. . . . Is it well for the
United States to be behind in scientific research, or to permit other nations
either to disprove or verify the report of its first attempt at foreign ex-
ploration?
Mr. Vorse’s words, however, were barren of result.
In 1903, an Englishman, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill—whose recent
excellent book “‘ The Siege of the South Pole” is so different from
old-fashioned works about Antarctic history—in a note to Science
in reply to one of the writer’s, also suggested sending an American
expedition to the Antarctic. Dr. Mill said:’°
Yours is a land of millionaires: the Antarctic is still scarcely touched by
explorers, and all nations would rejoice to see a well-equipped American
expedition sent out to help to solve the present problems which, after all,
are those most nearly concerning us.
3“ Around the World,” Philadelphia, February, 1804, p. 55.
% Scribner's Magazine, 1899, Vol. 36, p. 704.
the following words:
5 Science, Vol. XVIII., August 7, 1903.
42 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
The writer immediately answered :1°
The final suggestion of Dr. Mill deserves unqualified approval. Would
it not be possible to send an American expedition, either private or govern-
mental, to reéxplore the coast of Wilkes Land? A steamship like the
“ Bear,” commanded by naval officers, should be able, in the course of one
southern summer, to bring back fresh data about the land discovered by
Americans in East Antarctica.
Here the matter slumbered again.
When Captain Scott, however, published'’ his unwarranted,
inaccurate statements about Admiral Wilkes, the writer wrote two
articles, “ Antarctic Nomenclature ’’8 and “ Wilkes Land.”!® The
latter article wound up in these words:
And now to take up another phase of this question. The whole of East
Antarctica may be one great land mass. Or it may be that Wilkes Land
is one mass, possibly a continuation of Australia; and Victoria Land one
mass, possibly a continuation of New Zealand. No one can say positively,
until an expedition is sent out to explore systematically the northern coast
of East Antarctica. Mr. Henryk Arctowski, a member of de Gerlache’s
Antarctic expedition, is trying hard to keep up interest in Antarctic ex-
ploration and to have international cooperation in the future, as he has
explained in a recent monograph. Is it impossible to wake up governmental
interest in the United States in this matter, or, if it is, would not some
American multi-millionaire furnish the funds to send an expedition to
settle for all time the facts about the greatest geographical discovery of the
nineteenth century, the coast of “The Antarctic Continent” discovered
by Charles Wilkes?
In an editorial commenting on these articles, the New York
Tribune?’ said:
It is extremely unfortunate that Captain Scott did not extend his survey
to the precise spot at which Wilkes made his historic observations. Few
disinterested geographers will attach any value to his report so far as the
reality of Wilkes Land is involved. To assume on the strength of such
evidence that any mistake has been made heretofore is premature, to say
the least. Not until a new expedition has gone to the region in question
and has made a more thorough search than did Captain Scott would it be
wise or honest to drop the name Wilkes Land from Antarctic charts. For
* Science, Vol. XVIII., September 4, 1903.
™“ The Voyage of the Discovery.” See supra, Mr. Newberry’s letter.
* Bulletin American Geographical Society, December, 1905.
* Bulletin American Geographical Society, January, 1906.
* February 5, 1900:
1909. ] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 43
the honor of this country and of one of her ablest naval officers it is to be
hoped that the point at issue may be thoroughly investigated before many
years. A special expedition for the purpose might well be organized in
America.
As a result also of these articles, the American Geographical
Society took up the matter and sent the following letter to the
Secretary of the Navy:
February 15, 1906.
Sir:
The council of this society respectfully invite your attention to the fol-
lowing passage from “ The Voyage of the Discovery,” by Robert F. Scott,
R. N., London, 1905, Vol. II., page 302:
“The sky has been dull, but the horizon quite clear; we could have seen
land at a great distance, yet none has been in sight, and thus once and for
all we have definitely disposed of Wilkes Land.”
This authoritative utterance by a recent explorer in the Antarctic is but
the culmination of a series of representations, continued through sixty years,
reflecting on the importance of the work accomplished by the U. S. Exploring
Expedition of 1838-1842, under the command of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes,
Wes: N.
Wilkes Land is the name given by map makers to the land discovered
by Wilkes on the nineteenth of January, 1840, in E. long. 154° 30’, S. lat.
66° 20’, followed for 1,500 miles, and called by him The Antarctic Continent.
No subsequent explorer has followed his track.
It is hoped that it may be the purpose of the government to dispatch a
vessel in order to verify the results of the exploration made by Wilkes, and
this society will appreciate information on this point.
Respectfully,
CHANDLER Rossins,
The Hon. Domestic Corresponding Secretary.
The Secretary of the Navy,
Washington, D. C.
Mr. Truman H. Newberry, Acting Secretary of the Navy, re-
plied in the following letter:
Navy DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, March 8, 1906.
Sirs
Replying to your letter of the 15th ultimo, inviting, on behalf of
the Council of the American Geographical Society, attention to a certain
passage from “ The Voyage of the Discovery,” by Robert F. Scott, London,
1905, Vol. II., page 392, therein quoted, to the effect that the vessel in
question on her homeward voyage from Victoria Land, in March, 1903,
crossed the track that had been followed in January, 1840, by the vessels of
44 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
the U. S. Exploring Squadron without seeing any of the lands that had
been indicated by Wilkes as lying southward of the “Icy Barrier,’ between
the meridians of longitude 154° and 158° east of Greenwich, and stating it
is hoped that the Government will dispatch a vessel in order to verify the
results of the Wilkes Expedition: I have to inform you that the Hydrog-
rapher of the Navy Department, to whom you letter was referred, has sub-
mitted the following comments thereon:
“On the nineteenth of January, 1840, in longitude 154° 30’ east, latitude
66° 20’ south, Lieutenant Charles Wilkes sighted, or believed that he sighted
land to the south. On the same day, in longitude 153° 40’ east, latitude
66° 31’ south, Lieutenant Hudson also thought that he saw land to the south.
Other officers of the expedition, among them Lieutenant Alden, Gunner
Williamson, and Passed Midshipman Colvocoresses, made statements to
the same effect. The American vessels sailed westerly, and on the 22nd
and 23rd of January reported land again. They then continued their
cruise in a westerly direction along this coast for a distance of about
1,500 miles, to longitude 97° 37’ east. Returning to Sydney, Australia, on
the 11th of March, 1840, without touching at any intermediate port, Lieu-
tenant Wilkes announced his discovery in a report to the Secretary of
the Navy on the day of his arrival at Sydney, in the following words: ‘It
affords me much gratification to report that we have discovered a large body
of land within the Antarctic Circle, which I have named the Antarctic
Continent, and refer you to the report of our cruise and accompanying
charts, inclosed herewith, for full information relative thereto.’
“At page 18 of Volume One of ‘ The Voyage of the Discovery,’ published
in 1905, Captain Scott makes the following statement:
“* Wilkes with his five ships sailed from Sydney at the end of December,
1839. His ships took various tracks, but he himself in the ‘ Vincennes’
reached latitude 66° S., longitude 158° E., on January 16, and at this point
point he claimed to have first seen land to the south. Hence he cruised
to the westward, approximately on the latitude of the Antarctic Circle, with
a comparatively open sea to the north and masses of pack-ice to the south;
and beyond the latter he again and again claimed the discovery of high
mountainous land. He passed close to Adélie Land and Cote Clarie only 2
few days after their discovery by D’Urville, and continuing his cruise,
alleged the discovery of further extensive lands to the westward.
“*QOn his return to civilisation Wilkes claimed a vast discovery. The
courses of his ships had practically traversed an are of the Antarctic Circle
of no less than 70°, and, although he did not assert that he had seen land
continuously south of this arc, he reported its existence at such frequent
intervals as to leave little doubt that it was continuous.
“« At a later date a great controversy arose as to the accuracy of Wilkes’s
observations, and resulted in much discredit being thrown on work which
in many respects was important. Whilst there can be no possible object
in attempting to revive such a controversy, it is evident that the true
geographical condition should be known, and therefore I make bold to give
my opinion of the matter. In the course of this narrative I shall show that
1909. ] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 45
the mountainous lands reported by Wilkes to the eastward of Adélie Land
do not exist, and it must be recognized that those to the west may be
equally unsubstantial, but it is not clear that Wilkes wilfully perverted the
truth; only those who have been to these regions can realize how con-
stantly a false appearance of land is produced, and no position could be
more favorable to such an illusion than that in which this expedition was
placed when it skirted the edge of a thick pack containing innumerable
icebergs. It must be supposed also, for reasons which I have given, that
Wilkes, in common with other explorers, expected to find land about the
Antarctic Circle, and when after his return he learned of D’Urville’s dis-
coveries, the position of Adélie Land would naturally have tended to dispel
any doubt which he may have had as to what he or his people had seen.
“* Wilkes’s ships were ill adapted for battling with the ice, and, apart
from their discoveries, the fact that they continued so long in high latitudes
reflects great credit on their navigation. Had he been more circumspect
in his reports of land, all would have agreed that his voyage was a fine
performance.’
“Captain Scott’s statements about the non-existence of lands which
Lieutenant Wilkes reported to be situated in the vicinity of the Antarctic
Circle, between the meridians of longitude 97° and 158° east of Greenwich,
rest upon the fact that, in her voyage homeward from Victoria Land,
on March 4, 1903, the “ Discovery,” in longitude 154° E., crossed the track
that had been followed in January, 1840, by the vessels of the U. S. Explor-
ing Squadron without seeing any of the lands that had been indicated by
Wilkes as lying southward of the Icy Barrier between the meridians of
longitude 154° and 158° east of Greenwich. It is with reference to this
incident of the approach to the crossing of the tracks of the two expeditions
that the language quoted as follows in the letter of the American Geograph-
ical Society has been used.
“*'The sky has been dull, but the horizon quite clear; we could have seen
land at a great distance, yet none has been in sight, and thus once and for
all we have definitely disposed of Wilkes Land.’
“Even if it be admitted that there is no land at the crossing where Cap-
tain Scott did not see any, this fact should not operate to induce a conclusion
that, within the extent of the remaining 50° of longitude through which the
United States Expedition skirted the Antarctic Circle, land does not exist.”
There is no vessel of the Navy available at the present time for dis-
patching on a voyage of discovery to the Antarctic regions to verify the
results of the exploring expedition (1838-1843) under the command of the
late Captain Charles Wilkes, U. S. N.
Very respectfully,
TRUMAN H. NEWBERRY,
Acting Secretary.
Mr. Chandler Robbins,
Domestic Corresponding Secretary,
The American Geographical Society,
15 West 81st Street,
New York, N. Y.
46 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
In forwarding copies of these letters to the writer, the late
George C. Hurlbut, librarian of the American Geographical Society,
wrote as follows:
March 12, 1906.
My dear Mr. Balch:
We received on the roth an answer to the letter written to the Secre-
tary of the Navy about a ship for the Antarctic, and I enclose a copy for you.
It is final for the time, but no one knows what may come to pass.
Sincerely yours,
GrorcE C. Hurwput.
Miss Wilkes, the daughter of our great explorer, also sent the
writer the following letter:
814 CoNNECTICUT AVENUE,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
My dear Sir:
Your ideas as to an Antarctic expedition to substantiate my father’s dis-
covery of a continent appeals more and more to my sister and me. We
hope that you will see fit to endeavor to persuade some government official
or some man in power politically or financially to work upon and push your
plan to successful completion calling it the “ Balch Expedition.” If we can
do anything in our little way to bring your idea into notice, we shall gladly
speak or write.
But alas! we are women, not ever of much use in such grand projects
as you, with your knowledge and courage in speaking for the truth, are so
fitted to undertake. It was really a happiness to talk with you, who have
done so much to uphold my father’s name. My sister and I both regretted
very much that she too had not the gratification of meeting you and your
wife. We will hope to see you both in Washington when you come, with
your admirable manner and convincing words to lay your most kind intention
before the officials here. With most grateful thanks to you and regards to
your wife, f
Very cordially,
ExizaA WILKES.
April 12, 1906.
Not long after this, the writer succeeded in enlisting a powerful
helper in the cause of Antarctic exploration. This was Com-
mander Robert E. Peary, who up to this time, curiously enough,
had apparently taken no interest whatever in the Antarctic. Indeed,
in his letter of September 2, 1903, explaining his plans for a new
Arctic expedition to the Secretary of the Navy, Commander’ Peary
showed that he was unaware that there was a south polar problem,
when he wrote :*1
* Bulletin American Geographical Society, Vol. XXXV., 1903, p. 375.
1909.] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 47
The North Pole is the last great geographical prize the earth has to
offer. Its attainment will be accepted as the sign of man’s final physical con-
quest of the globe; and it will always stand as one of the great milestones
in the world’s history.
The attainment of the North Pole is, in my opinion, our manifest
privilege and duty. Its attainment by another country would be in the
light of a reproach and criticism.
To which the Acting Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Charles H.
Darling, replied very sensibly,?? showing that he recognized that
the South Pole was just exactly as important geographically as the
North Pole:
The attainment of the Pole should be your main object. Nothing short
will suffice. The discovery of the Poles is all that remains to complete
the map of the world. That map should be completed in our generation
and by our countrymen.
Commander Peary also made no reference to south polar prob-
lems in his book “‘ Nearest the Pole,” published in 1907.
In December, 1906, however, the writer sent a copy of “ Ant-
arctica” to Commander Peary, also calling his attention to the
article “ Wilkes Land.” Commander Peary replied as follows:
WasHInNcToNn, D. C.
December 14, 1906.
Dear Mr. Balch:
I have the copy of “Antarctica” and thank you very much for the
valuable present. I shall read it through at the earliest possible opportunity.
The accompanying pamphlets are also extremely interesting. Accept my
best thanks for all.
The references which you give I shall certainly look up and add to my
library.
I greatly appreciate your kindly words and look forward to the pleasure
of seeing you again on the 2ist.
Very sincerely,
R. E. Peary,
2014, 12th Street, N. W.
Commander Peary, after the necessity for American exploration
in the Antarctic was brought thus to his notice, evidently studied
up the matter and in 1908 he put himself on record as willing to
2 Bulletin American Geographical Society, Vol. XXXV., 1903, p. 376.
PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. I9I D,"PRINTED JULY 2, 1909.
48 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
undertake the task of organizing an American Antarctic expedition
by sending to the Commission Polaire Internationale a “ communi-
cation”? which was presented by Mr. Herbert L. Bridgman, presi-
dent of the Peary Arctic Club. In this “ communication” Mr.
Peary says:
I beg to state that on my return from my coming Arctic Expedition,
I shall endeavor in every possible way, consistent with my other duties, to
promote and organize a National American Antarctic Expedition, to secure
for this country its share of the honors and valuable scientific information
still awaiting the explorer in that region.
The fact that Commander Peary has at length become interested
in the Antarctic regions and is indorsing the writer’s cherished
views in such a practical way, renews hope that before long an
American expedition will be on its way to Wilkes Land.
Ti:
There is an almost unlimited field for scientific research and
observation in south polar regions, and many branches of natural
science will be advanced by properly equipped expeditions. Geog-
raphy, oceanography, glacialogy, geology, paleontology, zoology,
bacteriology, meteorology, magnetism, all need many more years of
study in the south by trained observers. There are some scien-
tific problems of the first magnitude awaiting solution. One of
them, for instance, is the Great Ice Barrier. It appears to be afloat
as far back as observed and to be moving. Where does it extend
to? What formed it? What causes its motion? No one can say!
To solve this wonderful glacial problem would be worth all the
money spent to do so.
In zoology, in ichthyology, in bacteriology, in botany—in fact
in regard to life in all its forms—there is any amount of work
still to be done in the Antarctic. For an American expedition,
however, collecting would be more important than observing on
these lines, because, although so many American vessels have
visited south polar regions, neither the American Museum of Na-
tural History, nor the United States National Museum, nor indeed
any of the great museums in America has anything like a repre-
1909. ] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 49
sentative collection from Antarctica, and therefore one of the most
fruitful results of an American expedition would be to bring home
specimens of all kinds.
But geography is the most pressing science. The interior of
Antarctica is almost unknown. The coast line is not half laid
down, even if the continental shelf has been traced by soundings
in several places where land has not been sighted as yet. And the
paramount geographic duty for Americans should be a more accu-
rate charting of the coast line of Wilkes Land, which could be
largely done even in one southern summer by two steam whalers.
Starting about the middle of December from Australia, an
American expedition should aim for Piner Bay in about 140° east
longitude, and thence it should sail eastward to about 170° east
longitude. It should, while avoiding getting caught in the ice,
hug the coast as much as possible. Such a cruise would settle for
all time the question of the existence of the great land mass of
East Antarctica. It would also prevent any possible wrangling in
the future about Case Land, and Alden Land, and Hudson Land,
which will all probably turn out to be fifty or seventy-five miles
further south than Wilkes charted them.
Is there now any way of bringing about such an expedition?
The United States government, practically speaking through Mr.
Newberry, Acting Secretary of the Navy, declined to take the
matter up. What can be done either to induce the government to
rescind its negative decision, or towards finding some private indi-
viduals to finance the undertaking?
It would seem as though the first thing to do would be to arouse
more general interest among scientific men. The American Geo-
graphical Society has already shown approbation. Would not some
of the learned societies in the United States, such as the American
Philosophical Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Amer-
ican Museum of Natural History endorse the project in some shape
or other?
If some of the geographic and scientific societies would put the
seal of their approval on an American Antarctic expedition, the
next step forward would seem to be the formation of an Antarctic
50 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
Committee, each member of which should represent some scientific
or geographic society in the United States. If a committee were
formed, of such men as Cyrus C. Adams, Herbert L. Bridgman,
Henry G. Bryant, Hermon C. Bumpus, William Morris Davis,
Charles E. Fay, Adolphus W. Greely, Gilbert H. Grosvenor, George
W. Melville, Robert E. Peary, Winfield Scott Schley, Harvey M.
Watts, each one chosen from some learned body like the American
Philosophical Society, the Smithsonian Institution, the American
Museum of Natural History, the Franklin Institute, the American
Geographical Society, the National Geographic Society, the Peary
Arctic Club, the Appalachian Mountain Club, the American Alpine
Club, the Association of American Geographers, etc., and such a
committee would issue and distribute some memoirs on the impor-
tance of Antarctic research, public interest might be aroused and the
matter take a concrete form.
When one considers all the facts in the case—that the last un-
known continent was discovered by Americans; that the commander
of our most successful expedition was immediately arraigned and
attacked by the angry commander of the next British expedition;
that a recent ex-president of the Royal Geographical Society and
also the commander of the British National Antarctic expedition are
eager to wipe out all American discoveries from the map; that
many branches of science would be advanced; that big gaps in
American museums would be filled; and above all, that the dis-
coveries by the United States Navy in the Antarctic would be veri-
fied and increased—it would seem as though some Americans would
take the matter up, and, while helping science, link their names with
that of our great Antarctic explorer.
THE NATION AND THE WATERWAYS.
By LEWIS Mi HAUPT, (Ges AMY Sc.D:
(Read April 22, 1909.)
This mysterious planet which we inhabit has been the object of
profound reasearch by many self-constituted investigators since the
creation of man, yet he has not wholly unravelled her secrets nor
fathomed her innumerable resources.
She may be likened to an immense gyroscope, whose pole is the
sun and whose radius-vector is the tether which checks her eccen-
tricities as she floats through space. Her form, size and density
have been carefully determined and it is found that of the four
great circles which constitute her envelope, only about 53,500,000
square miles are above the level of the sea, and that of this portion
but about 28,000,000 are arable land.
Such is the present extent of our heritage, as a storehouse for
the maintenance of life, and it is recorded that when, in the process
of time, this physical orb had been suitably developed for habitation,
then the Lord God, by His creative Word, said:
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have
dominion over all the earth.. . . So God created man and blessed them
and said unto them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and
subdue it; and have dominion over . . . every living thing that moveth
upon the earth.’ ”
In the fulfillment of this divine commission man has multiplied
in numbers, notwithstanding many vicissitudes, until to-day it is
estimated that there are not less than 1,500,000,000 souls to be sup-
plied with the necessities of life, yet the earth is not full, nor are
her resources exhausted. This enormous host of humanity is scat-
tered, more or less densely, over the habitable portion of the globe,
subject to different environments, beliefs, aspirations, habits, gov-
ernments, faculties and purposes, yet all imbued with the common,
51
52 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. _ [April 22,
imperious instinct of life, from the lowest barbarianism to the high-
est civilization.
To level up these hordes of humanity, free circulation, tending
to promote community of interests, is necessary, and yet some of
the most favored nations are enacting legislative barriers to prevent
migration and restrict commercial intercourse, not only between
nations but even between states.
From these two factors of available area and present population
it appears that, if uniformily distributed, there would be a density
of 53.6 individuals to the square mile, or 11 acres per capita. But
it will give a better idea of the capacity of the earth to state that
the entire population of the globe could be included in the State
of Texas, at the rate of nine to the acre, whereas the safe sanitary
limit is taken at one hundred per acre. Belgium, one of the most
densely settled and prosperous countries, has a density of 1.12 acres
per capita, or 0.9 of a person per acre.
The annual increment of the world is stated to be: births,
36,792,000; deaths, 35,639,835—difference or increase, 1,162,165.
Were this rate to remain constant, on this basis, it would require
over a thousand years to even double the present population, so
that there would appear to be ample room for the normal increase
even within present limits of territory. But these figures must be
discredited inasmuch as they give only three fourths of one per
cent. increment per decade, while the annual excess for Europe, as
determined by Professor Marshall, was 1.06 per cent., or fourteen-
fold greater.
Suffice it to say, however, that while there appears to be ample
room in the world for thousands of years to come, yet the increase
in the United States is believed to be far more rapid than in any
other country on earth. Here the rate is more than double that of
Europe, and this fact also is an earnest of her influence as a world
power in the maintenance of peace, regardless of great armaments.
Large portions of the industrial world are dependent upon her
granaries for their materials and subsistence, thus intensifying the
necessity of reducing the cost of transportation and increasing her
facilities, by providing capacious channels as well as an adequate
merchant marine, for the distribution of her products.
1909.] HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. 53
This question of cheap transportation becomes, therefore, one
of international importance, deserving of the careful consideration
of all classes of people and, although much has been said and done
to meet the demands of commerce, our retired President has char-
acterized the results as being “largely negative,’ which he attributes
to the absence of a comprehensive plan which led to the policy of
“repression and procrastination,’ and he adds:
“Tn spite of large appropriations for their improvement our rivers are
less serviceable for inter-state commerce to-day than they were half a century
ago, and in spite of the vast increase in our population and commerce they
are on the whole less used.”
This pregnant paragraph represents a condition resulting from
a change of policy which has rendered these lamentable results pos-
sible, and which is so diametrically opposed to the fundamental
principles of this democracy that a brief statement of these innova-
tions seems essential to point out the proper remedy.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES.
In his excellent analysis of the dangers threatening the utilities
of the railroads, from legislative restriction, Mr. Stuyvesant Fish*
calls attention to the words of Washington, when retiring from
public life, as follows:
“Tt is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking, in a free country,
should inspire caution in those intrusted with its administration, to confine
themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the
exercise of the powers of one department, to encroach upon another. The
spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the depart-
ments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real
despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and a proneness to abuse
it which predominates the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the
truth of this position . . . If, in the opinion of our people the distribution
or modification of the constitutional powers be, in any particular, wrong, let
it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the constitution designates.
But let there be no change by usurpation for though this, in one instance,
may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free
governments are destroyed.”
Now, more than a century later, our distinguished Secretary of
1“ The Nation and the Railroads,” address before the American Academy
of Political and Social Science. No. 553, 1908.
54 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. _ [April 22,
State and ex-U. S. Senator, P. C. Knox, in an address delivered
February 12, 1908, said:
“When the Government assumed charge and control of the navigable
streams of the interior it entered into a practical contract with the States
and communities bordering these streams that their waterways should be
improved to their highest capacity. The States were thereby prevented from
improving the streams themselves. Corporate enterprise was forbidden to
undertake the canalization of important stretches and fix the cost of their
works and franchises on the traffic. The Federal Government has made its
formal and deliberate declaration that it will do this work. That necessarily
involves that it will make the improvements adequate to modern needs and
possibilities. To do any less would be a mockery and breach of good faith.”
Thus, it is manifest that the federal government has assumed
charge and control of the waterways of the states, but without
formal agreement, and has paralyzed the former corporate or local
initiative as commercial enterprises, and in consequence of the ina-
bility of the national treasury to meet even a small fraction of the
demands upon it for this class of public works, has added to the
general congestion of the transportation and increased the cost.?
The great relative loss in water-borne commerce during the past
half century may be ascribed in large part to the rapid increase in
the mileage and capacity of railroads which have erroneously
regarded waterways as competitors and waged a war of extermina-
tion upon them; as well as to the policy on the part of some of the
states and localities to tacitly prefer appropriations from the national
treasury rather than from their own revenues and thus apparently
sanction the forfeiture of sovereignty over these works, to an
extrinsic authority, having no constitutional rights to exercise them.
Even if it were constitutional for the general government to
assume and control the improvements of all the rivers and harbors
of the several states, it has been demonstrated time and again that
it is impracticable to secure the necessary appropriations from the
general treasury, necessary to meet the demands of a rapidly ex-
panding commerce, which furnishes a tonnage increasing five-fold
faster than the facilities for transporting it. With all sections
7 At the closing session of the 60th Congress the appropriation was only
nine-tenths of one per cent., while 60.5 per cent. was for militarism and its
sequences.
1909.] HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. 55
clamoring for expenditures in their districts for isolated improve-
ments it becomes impracticable to enter upon any continuous and
systematic plan of relief. The frequent failure of the appropria-
tion bill for waterways is in itself conclusive evidence of the serious
obstacles to the development of these works due to general legislation,
and the paralysis resulting from the assumption of control over all
such works by a central authority is too often in evidence. With the
many devices available for the defeat of meritorious legislation, the
issue is always in doubt and is frequently determined by the policy of
the “ steering-committee ”’ or the demands from other departments or
bureaus of the executive departments, which have their headquarters
at the capital, and are in position to direct legislation by making or
withholding recommendations for certain influential sections. Thus,
the multitude of bills, the shortness of the closing sessions, the
reference to committees not having the right of way on the floor,
the ability to filibuster or talk a measure to death through courtesy,
the reference to a committee with instructions to pigeon-hole, the
failure of a member to receive recognition, the necessity of dis-
tributing the patronage over the country to secure a sufficient num-
ber of votes to pass the bill, the strenuous opposition of vested
interests fearing competition, and the local, sectional jealousies
existing between adjacent centers, all tend to retard or defeat the
normal development of our avenues of transportation and to pro-
mote those of our foreign competitors in the markets of the world.
That these statements are not mere glittering generalities will
appear by a brief reference to the history of the colonies when the
rivalries of trade and the cutting of rates were so severe that to
avoid impending ruin, it was determined to form a confederation to
protect the colonies from the devastation of the foreign powers
which were destroying their trade. Thus it was that the Constitu-
tion of the United States was adopted on the seventeenth day of
September, 1787, whereby the states empowered the Congress to
“regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several
states, and with the indian tribes.”
Many are the expositions which have been published as to the
scope and meaning of these powers, but the opinion of the framers
of this Magna Charta, are unanimous as to the fact that the states
56 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. _ [April 22,
did not relegate their jurisdiction over their waterways, water-
powers or franchises to the national government and this right
was retained and exercised by the states to their great benefit, as
well as to that of the nation, up to and after the Civil War when
the policy gradually changed and the “control was assumed,’ as
Senator Knox puts it, by the government. Under this policy of
encroachment and national control, it has become necessary for all
sections of the country to organize great political and local associa-
tions and to combine these into national congresses which assemble
annually at the capital, to urge by every legitimate means that
$500,000,000 bonds be issued, to enable the waterways of the coun-
try to be prepared for traffic, yet the results thus far are almost
negligible, and it is stated by members of Congress that the people
would not justify such measures. This opinion appears to be well
supported by the fact that during the past half century more than
$600,000,000 have been appropriated for these purposes from the
public treasury and yet the President has declared that the results
are largely negative, but the method of procedure would seem to be
radically wrong in basing the appeal for money on the experience
of the past with no prospect of better returns for the future, which
can only be effected by a reformation of the system which has ren-
dered such returns possible. Thus it happens that the largest and
most enterprising commercial and trade organizations of the coun-
try are memorializing Congress for such a reorganization as shall
place these works under a cabinet officer, to be created with definite
and systematic plans for the continuous execution of such works
as may properly come within the jurisdiction of the United States
and to encourage the state, corporate and local initiative as was
the practice in ante-bellem days when the waterways and canals
were so rapidly and successfully developed at a minimum cost by
private capital, as have been the railways and highways of the
federal domain from its foundation. In short it is vital that there
should be a return to the early policy underlying the foundation of
this republic and which was the spirit embodied in its Constitution.
It was the genius of our government, that
“What individual enterprise could effect alone, was to be left to indi-
vidual enterprise; what a state and individuals could achieve together was
1909.] HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. 57
left to the joint action of states and individuals; but what neither of these,
separately or conjoined were able to accomplish, that and that only, was the
province of the federal government.”
In the application of this principle as construed under the Con-
stitution is it asserted that the recent practice of appropriating pub-
lic moneys for projects which are essentially and indisputably de-
signed to benefit local and personal interests is radically wrong.
This attitude was firmly maintained by many of our Presidents
from Washington to the present time. i
Thomas Jefferson, long president of this distinguished society,
who was the first Secretary of State, under the Constitution, and
also vice-president from March 4, 1797, to 1801 and President of
the United States for the two following terms during the formative
days of the Republic, in his sixth annual message to Congress,
dated December 2, 1806, refers to the prospective plethora of
income from imposts and suggests the desirability of expending a
portion of these funds upon public improvements but states em-
phatically that it will require an amendment to the Constitution as
it is not authorized under the powers vested in Congress. He
recommended the abolition of the imposts on the necessary articles
of trade and their continuance on foreign luxuries, appealing to
the patriotism of those who were able to pay for their use that the
revenues might be applied
“To the great purposes of the public education, roads, rivers, canals and
such other objects of public improvements as it may be thought proper to
add to the constitutional enumeration of the federal powers. By these
operations new channels of communication will be opened between the
states, the lines of separation will disappear, their interests will be identified,
and their union be cemented by indissoluble ties. . . . The subject is now
proposed for the consideration of Congress, because, if approved by the time
the state legislatures shall have deliberated on this extension of the federal
trusts, and the laws shall be passed and other arrangements made for their
execution, the necessary funds will be on hand without employment. I
suppose an amendment to the Constitution, by consent of the states, necessary,
because the objects now recommended are not among those enumerated in
the Constitution, and to which it permits the public moneys to be applied.”
So that as the Constitution has never been thus amended it
would appear that many of the appropriations which have been
made from the public treasury are without warrant in law.
58 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. [April 22,
A few years later when the necessity of greater facilities became
still more manifest, his successor, President James Madison, also
urged that Congress should pass enabling legislation by amendment
to the Constitution and felt required under his oath of office to
veto a bill passed by Congress appropriating public money for works
of this class, in the following words:
“March 3, 1817: Having considered the bill this day presented to me
entitled ‘An act to set apart and pledge certain funds for internal im-
provements, and for constructing roads, and canals and improving the
navigable water courses, in order to facilitate, promote and give security to
internal commerce among the several states, and to render more easy and
less expensive the means and provisions for the common defense, I am
constrained by the insuperable difficulty I feel in reconciling the bill with
the Constitution of the United States to return it with that objection to the
House of Representatives, in which it originated. ...
“The power to ‘regulate commerce among the several States’ cannot
include a power to construct roads and canals and to improve the navigation
of water courses in order to facilitate, promote and secure such a commerce,
without a latitude of construction departing from the ordinary import of the
terms strengthened by the known inconveniences which doubtless led to the
grant of this remedial power to Congress.
“Tf a general power to construct roads and canals and to improve the
navigation of watercourses, with the train of powers incident thereto, be not
possessed by Congress, the assent of the states to the mode provided in the
bill cannot confer that power.
“T am not unaware of the great importance of roads and canals and the
improved navigation of water courses, and that a power in the national
legislature to provide for them might be exercised with signal advantage
to the general prosperity. But seeing that such a power is not expressly
given by the Constitution, and believing that it cannot be deduced from
any part of it without an inadmissible latitude of construction and a reliance
on insufficient precedents; believing also that the permanent success of the
Constitution depends on a definite partition of powers between the general
and the state governments, and that no adequate landmarks would be left
by the constructive extension of the powers of Congress as proposed in the
bill, I have no option but to withhold my signature from it, and to cherish
the hope that its beneficial objects may be attained by a resort for the neces-
sary powers to the same wisdom and virtue in the nation which established
the Constitution in its actual form and providently marked out in the instru-
ment itself a safe and practicable mode of improving it as experience might
suggest.”
As these Presidents were contemporaneous with the framing of
the Constitution their official interpretation of its powers and scope
1909. ]~ HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. 59
should carry great weight, indicating as they do the fear of trench-
ing on the rights of the states and checking their development by
trespassing upon their own resources.
Presidents Jackson, Tyler, Polk and Pierce also emphasized these
views by their emphatic vetoes and even after the war, when Con-
gress had adopted a policy of making such appropriations, Presi-
dents Grant, Arthur and Cleveland vetoed bills, while others failed
of passage because they did not contain enough patronage for local
projects to secure the necessary votes. This pernicious principle,
which was feared by the founders of the republic, was clearly shown
in the application of the State of New York for federal aid in the
construction of the Erie Canal, a work of undoubted national im-
port. When its legislature sent a committee to Washington on
December 21, 1811, President Monroe stated that he was embar-
rassed by scruples derived from his interpretation of the Consti-
tution. The next day, the Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gal-
latin, of Pennsylvania, stated that he was under the opinion that
pecuniary aid could not be given, but that sufficient grants of land
might now be made without inconvenience to the fiscal affairs of the
union. The opinion prevailed in Congress that it would be wise to
amend the Constitution for such purposes, but the delegation
felt ita
“Duty to declare, on all proper occasions, a decided opinion that the
States would not consent to vest in the national government a power to cut
up their territory, for the purpose of digging canals.”
It was also reported:
“Your committee found another idea operating with baleful effect, though
seldom and cautiously expressed. The population and resources of the
State of New York furnish no pleasant reflection to men, whose minds are
imbued with state jealousies; and although the proposed canal must not only
be of the highest importance to the western states as well as to the States
of Pennsylvania and Maryland, and greatly promote the prosperity of the
whole union, it was obvious that an opinion as to its superior benefit to
this state was sedulously inculcated. . . . It became evident that the object
of this state would not be separately attended to and your committee were
desired to prepare a general system .. . as being necessary to secure the
consent of a majority of the House of Representatives. . . . Others again,
who have too much understanding to doubt the resources of the state and
60 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. [April 22,
too much prudence to expose themselves to ridicule, by expressing such
doubt, triumphantly declare, that her legislature has not the spirit and intel-
ligence to draw out and apply her resources to that great object. These men
console themselves with a hope that the envied State of New York will
continue a suppliant for the generosity of the Union, instead of making a
manly and dignified appeal to her own power. It remains to be proved,
whether they judge justly who judge so meanly of our councils.”
The sequel is well known and reveals the wisdom of abandoning
all efforts to secure national aid, and to depend upon local resources
and initiative for early developments, as was done.
In vetoing the bill on August 1, 1882, President Arthur said:
“My principal objection to the bill is that it contains appropriations for
purposes not for the common defense or general welfare, and which do not
promote commerce among the states. . . . I regard such appropriations of
public money as beyond the powers given by the Constitution to Congress
and the President. I feel the more bound to withold my signature because
of the peculiar evils which manifestly result from this infraction of the
Constitution.
“ Appropriations of this nature to be devoted to purely local objects tend
to increase in number and amount, etc. Thus as the bill becomes more
objectionable it secures more support. This result is invariable and neces-
sarily follows a neglect to observe the Constitutional limitations imposed
upon the law making power.”
Yet the passage of the bill in the face of this plain declaration
of the evils to result therefrom indicates how great is the tempta-
tion to cater to one’s constituency, at the public expense.
Commenting on the morale of similar appropriations in his day,
President Jackson said in part, May 27, 1830:
“Tn the best view of these appropriations, the abuses to which they lead
far exceed the good they are capable of promoting. The subject has been
one of much, and, I may add painful reflection to me. It has bearings that
are well calculated to exert a powerful influence upon our hitherto prosperous
system of government, and which on some accounts, may even excite
despondency in the breast of an American citizen.”
Then denying the power of Congress to appropriate public money
for local or private benefit, he added:
“This is the more necessary to preserve other parts of the Constitution
from being undermined by the exercise of doubtful powers or of too great
extension of those which are not so, and protect the whole subject against
deleterious influences of combinations to carry by concert measures which,
considered by themselves, might meet but little countenance.”
1909.] HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. 61
This fear, which amounts to a prophecy, is fulfilled in the vast
assemblages, conventions and caucuses which are found to be neces-
sary to secure the predetermined policies of the dominant party,
but the effect as applied to waterways is far more injurious because
of the assumption of jurisdiction over all possible waterways in the
United States or its possessions, so that even where the government
is unable to make improvements it is now practically impossible for
localities or private parties to inaugurate works on their own ac-
count and at their own risk. It is still further proposed to extend
the powers of the government into the waters of the several states
and make them a source of revenue to the general government by
the imposition of royalties on the water-powers which are now or
have been free, thus further taxing the industrial products of the
Nation, at the expense of the consumers.
Another phase of these improvements, so called, is touched
upon in the veto of President Cleveland which is worthy of careful
consideration. After many years of experience in efforts to pro-
vide capacious channels at public expense, he stated on May 209,
1896, that:
“Many of the objects for which it appropriates public money are not
related to the public welfare, and many of them are palpably for the benefit
of limited localities or in aid of individual interests. On the face of the
bill it appears that not a few of these alleged improvements have been so
improvidently planned and prosecuted that after an unwise expenditure of
millions of dollars new experiments for, their accomplishment have been
entered upon. . . . These cannot fail to stimulate a vicious paternalism
and encourage a sentiment among our people, already too prevalent, that
their attachment to our government may properly rest upon the hope and
expectation of direct and especial favors. I believe that no greater danger
confronts us as a nation than the unhappy decadence among our peopie
of genuine and trustworthy love and affection for our government as the
embodiment of the highest and best aspirations of humanity and not as the
giver of gifts, and because its mission is the enforcement of exact justice
and equality, and not the allowance of unfair favoritism.”
These patriotic opinions from the highest authorities, whose offi-
cial positions qualify them to speak ex-cathedra, should suffice to
convince the most skeptical of the necessity of some modification
of the system which will give assurance of better returns for the
money expended and for a restoration of the policy of local and
62 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. _ [April 22,
state aid in the development of local improvements. The great
increase proposed in the amount of the appropriations gives no
guaranty that the defects of the system will be remedied but
rather increased. In commenting on the passage of the largest
bill ever passed, namely that of 1907, for $87,113,432, it was stated
that one item alone of over a million dollars was for a purely local
scheme and although thoroughly exposed and denounced in the
public press while the bill was pending, there was not a voice against
it when the bill was passed. This was not the only one in the
measure, yet to have cut them out would have caused the defeat
of the entire bill.
“Tf the rivers and harbors bills cannot be passed without such. abuses,
the system should be changed, and that quickly, for conditions could hardly
be more demoralizing.”
These conclusions are reiterated at almost every meeting of the
National Board of Trade and of many commercial bodies all over
the country, yet they are “more honored in the breach than in the
observance.”
At its recent session, the National Civic Federation resolved that
such legislation should be passed as would preserve individual ini-
tiative, competition, and the free exercise of a free contract in all
business and industrial relations. The National Board of Trade
resolved:
“That the public works of the government, excepting that of the military
and naval establishments, be placed under the direction and control of a
department to be created, which shall be called the Department of Public
Works.”
A natural sequence to the above exposé of the operation of the
existing system, may be found in the inability to secure adequate
appropriations from the public purse, at the last session, for works
of internal improvements in the face of so great a deficiency
threatening the Treasury, yet the sums allotted for the destructive
agencies of war, navy and pensions were largely increased. The
river and harbor appropriations aggregate less than one tenth of
the former bill for this purpose and the money is limited to the
“Repair, maintenance and preservation of these public works
1909.] HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. 63
heretofore appropriated for by Congress, and for continuing in
operation such dredging and other plants or equipment of any kind
owned by the United States government.” Thus no extension of
works is permitted and furthermore it is proposed to increase the
dredging plants owned by the government doing work by the eight
hour day and in open waters, without regulating works to maintain
the channels so improved.
A brief analysis of the unprecedentedly large appropriation of
1907, indicates that more than one half is applied to transfer points
on or near the seaboard and at terminals, so that the overland,
domestic traffic is not materially relieved, while a large sum is also
applicable to tentative works and to efforts to compete with the
deteriorating forces of nature by mechanical devices, involving large
annual expenditures for operation and maintenance.
A general review of the conditions which prevail as to the deca-
dence of the waterways of the country, indicates that the assump-
tion of authority by the government has operated to restrain state
and corporate initiative, has reduced the available mileage of the
canals to about one half that of 1860, has added largely to the
expenses for maintenance and has rendered it difficult, if not im-
possible, to secure legislation for much needed local improvements
because of the claims of governmental jurisdiction and control, thus
destroying competition by water and preventing development.
REMEDIAL LEGISLATION.
Since it has been shown, im extenso, by citations from the high-
est authorities that the states have not surrendered their sovereign
control over the local waterways included within their boundaries,
and that it is practically impossible to secure national appropria-
tions for such local improvements, save for political purposes, it
would appear to be most practicable and necessary to confine the
operations of the government to those interior waterways which are
strictly interstate, and the improvement of which would promote
the general welfare; such as the rivers which form borders between
two or more states in whole or in large part, as in the case of the
Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Delaware, Potomac, Savannah, Colum-
PROc. AMER, PHIL. SOC. XLVIII. I9I1 E, PRINTED JULY 6, 1909,
64 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. [April 22,
bia as far as Wallawalla, the Rio Grande, St. Lawrence and others,
as well as to the principal harbors of the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific
with the Great Lakes and the internal canals connecting these
trunk lines.
All other waterways lying within or traversing the areas of the
several states, in whole or part, with local harbors, inlets, canals
or other improvements should be emancipated from the assumed
control of the government and be relegated to the states to develop
under their reserved rights by the granting of charters to locali-
ties or private corporations as formerly, but any state or corpora-
tion desiring government aid may apply to Congress and receive
such assistance as that body may deem justifiable, for the public
good, said appropriations to be returned to the national treasury
in due course as determined by the terms of the loan.
Thus by mutual cooperation and consent the tributary avenues
of trade may be synchronously developed, as the trunk lines and
terminals are enlarged, to meet the rapidly expanding demands of
the country. Otherwise at the present rate it may require from
fifty to one hundred years to meet the present requirements, with
no prospect of overtaking those of the future for which the nation
must wait and pay the extra charges for overland carriage. The
engineering and administrative features of this pressing problem
must be deferred for lack of time and because they are subordinate
to the vital element of securing enabling legislation, involving as it
does a reorganization of the system of control.
In the words of our immortal President Lincoln:
“Let the nation take hold of the larger works, and the states the smaller
ones; and thus, working in a meeting direction, discretely, but steadily and
firmly. What is made unequal in one place may be equalized in another,
extravagance avoided, and the whole country put on that career of prosperity
which shall correspond with its extent of territory, its natural resources, and
the intelligence and enterprise of its people.”
If this policy of codperations were rightly carried out it would
conform to the fundamental conception of the framers of the Con-
stitution to establish a government “of the people, by the people and
for the people.”
ON A NEW VARIED YOR CHRYSOCOLLA PROM CHILE.
By HARRY F. KELLER.
(Read April 23, 1909.)
Like other cryptocrystalline or amorphous minerals the hydrated
silicates of copper collectively designated as chrysocolla vary con-
siderably in their chemical composition. They also show very
marked differences in color, some of the varieties being deep green,
while others exhibit various shades of bluish-green and blue. In
many instances the color of the mineral is doubtless modified by the
presence of admixtures, such as the oxides of iron, manganese or
copper, but we can hardly account for the existence of both the
decidedly green and the pure blue modifications without assuming
that they are different in composition. Thus in the case of the
hydrated carbonates of copper, malachite and azurite, the difference
in color is known to be due to a difference in the proportions of
chemically combined water.
Now the analyses of certain green varieties of chrysocolla closely
approach the composition CuSiO,-+2H,O, but those of other
occurrences, and particularly of the blue varieties, have yielded not
only different proportions of silica, oxide of copper and water, but
also notable quantities of other constituents, like alumina and phos-
phoric acid. Among several Chilean chrysocollas of which speci-
mens were presented to me by my brother, Mr. Hermann A. Keller,
there is one which appears to me of peculiar interest as its analysis
may throw some light on the constitution of the blue varieties of
the mineral. It was found at Huiquintipa in the Province of
Tarapaca, and is in the form of turquois-blue, enamel-like crusts,
disseminated through a honeycombed silicious matrix. It is brittle
with a hardness of 3.5. The powder is of a pale greenish color.
When heated in the closed tube, the mineral gives off considerable
moisture and blackens, and it is readily decomposed by the mineral
acids, without gelatinizing.
65
66 KELLER—CHRYSOCOLLA FROM CHILE.
The analyses yielded:
Calculated for
I. it CuH,(SiO,),+2H,0
Per Cent. Per Cent. er Cent,
Speciticnckavityesceaean te sete 2.532
Si Ose Re aeene sane 46.14 45.80 47.31
(CUO Preis sos ecient hier 28.85 28.69 31.39
NIE G) cree Rhone Ris acettore fees eeiemoee 58 47
EEO iis Ne ile Meese OS 1.38 1.33
(CRONIES ees erecta A Bee itera 1.64 1.67
IMG O) iste veete onset ons pauses iat 83 1.01
LEC AAS ote ae tae Gacy cte 20.15 20.32 21.30
99.54 99.38 100.00
It was found, as a mean of several closely agreeing determina-
tions, that two thirds of the water (13.41 per cent.) escapes below
125° C., while the remainder (6.83 per cent.) can be expelled only
by protracted ignition at a red heat. There can be no doubt, then,
that the latter portion is present in the substance as part of an acid
salt, as in dioptase for example. Assuming that the other two
thirds of the water is simply “ water of crystallization ” and, further,
that the small amounts of iron, calcium, magnesium, etc., are ad-
mixtures, the formula calculated from the above analytical data is
CuH,(SiO,), + H,O. This differs from the composition generally
assigned to chrysocolla in that it shows the Chilean mineral to be an
acid metasilicate of copper. I venture to express the belief that a
careful reéxamination of other blue chrysocollas may lead to similar
results.
CENTRAL HicH SCHOOL,
Philadelphia.
LEE PURIBICATION OF WATER SUPRLIES, BY IBE
USE OR MY POCHEORITES.
By WILLIAM PITT MASON, M.D.
(Read April 23, 1909.)
There is no question but those of us who have taken ground as
opposed to the “disinfection” of water by “bleach,” hypochlorite
of sodium, or other similar substances, must change our position.
The experimental work in France and England; the improvement
of the water of Bubbly-Brook at the Chicago Stock Yards, and,
above all, the remarkable results secured by the Jersey City Water
Supply Co., when operating upon the entire municipal supply of
Jersey City, suffice to silence opposition to what may be termed the
most recent purification method of to-day.
It is true that some years ago the “ Woolf” process was pro-
posed, whereby an electrolyzed salt solution was employed for addi-
tion to either sewage or water; and still further back the “ Web-
ster” plan was advocated; but none of the hypochlorites was
exploited in the systematic and exhaustive manner that has been
recently accomplished, nor has the smallness of the “ dose” that will
accomplish efficient treatment ever been suspected. Let the follow-
ing facts speak for themselves:
Lake water was treated with increasing “ doses’
powder”
»
of “ bleaching-
equivalent to the amount of available chlorine indicated.
It was then allowed to stand three hours in the dark, shaken and
sowed for “ total count”’ of bacteria.
Dose of Bleach.
Grains per Gallon. Parts per Million. Bacteria per c.c.
fo) (e) 102,900
3/100 Si 410
1/20 85 320
1/10 1.70 175
1/8 2.12 100
1/4 4.25 95
1/2 8.50 45
67
68 MASON—PURIFICATION OF WATER SUPPLIES. [April 22,
Numerous similar sowings were made and even lower counts of
residual germs were found.
Upon examining waters charged with pure cultures of Bacillus
coli communis, and others contaminated with fresh fecal material of
human origin, no gas-forming bacteria of any kind were found alive
in any instance after the use of even the smallest dose of “ bleach ”
shown above.
Other experimenters have reached similar conclusions with still
smaller doses of ‘‘available chlorine.” The most satisfactory test
of the process, however, is the practical one of treating the entire
municipal supply daily furnished to Jersey City. The dose there
used during the month of December, 1908, averaged approximately
.03 grain available chlorine per gallon and has since been materially
reduced. While using the above amount the daily counts of bac-
teria for the month were:
Raw WATER.
IED rho chia 0 IR AOR e RIERA ie eis Sty Aree eeere a Nar 1,600
Ua ra TALENT Ry etalatasetetalevene eususteeporstare tote olereretekeletetater 240
PNVET AE J, 5/5 Gc 5 lev tye ra tebrimuaren ere fate total oratet siersieovere 550
TREATED WATER.
Vax IVIUITTT = tc.2ioseta eis sstelousletersie le ee ates oosrekane eis reievehets 30
IND TEUTINUAAN re uiGe crcpmie eelele erat ele eaciee tere lester fe)
INC ETRE ela ues AUER, rave] ors luevapeualin veils Siacereuonoreatelslone 2)
No part of this minute dose of hypochlorite reaches the con-
sumer and protection against pathogenic organisms appears to be
assured.
It is not expected that the process will take the place of filtration
because it does not aid in improving the physical appearance of a
water, but as an adjunct to a filter plant there can be no question of
its usefulness in times of emergency, and it can surely be depended
upon to render a reasonably polluted water safe for domestic pur-
poses, and do it at a moderate price.
It goes without saying that the hypochlorite of sodium, obtained
by electrolyzing a solution of common salt, can be substituted for
the bleaching powder whenever local conditions allow of its cheap
manufacture. The effect upon bacterial life is the same.
RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE,
ARwaxie, IN| NGS
April, 1909.
THE. DETONATION, OF “GUN COTTON:
By CHARLES E. MUNROE.
(Read April 23, 1909.)
In the use of gun cotton in mines or torpedoes, advantage is
taken of the discovery of Mr. E. O. Brown that gun cotton, which
is completely saturated with water, may be detonated by the deto-
nation of “dry” gun cotton in direct contact with it, for it thus
becomes possible to secure a large margin of safety for the naval
vessels carrying gun cotton torpedoes by keeping the major portion
of this cargo completly saturated with water so that it is immune
from the danger common to the powerful nitric esters of accidental
explosion through so-called “spontaneous combustion” while it is
still available for use at any moment as a detonating charge. It is,
in fact, as my experimental demonstrations have shown, an even
more efficient rupturing or shattering explosive than the same volume
of dry gun cotton is, the explanation of this increased efficiency
being found in the increased density, and therefore rigidity, im-
parted to the porous mass through its interstices becoming filled
with water.
The blocks, or discs, as thus used, contained, on the average,
35 per cent. of water. In practice, this wet charge, in the service
torpedo, was fired or detonated by four 2-inch discs of “dry” gun
cotton, or its equivalent in $-inch discs or blocks, which was known
as the priming charge. As used the term “dry” meant air-dry and
necessarily referred to a variable condition dependent upon the
atmospheric conditions which obtained at any time and the exposure
of the primer to these conditions.
It is desirable to know how reliable this system is and what
assurance may be placed in it. This may to a degree be determined
by ascertaining how much moisture the priming disks may contain
and yet detonate the wet gun cotton with certainty. It was not
feasible to carry this out on the large scale with charges of the mag-
69
70 MUNROE—DETONATION OF GUN COTTON. [March 5,
nitude used in torpedoes, nor did it seem necessary to the solution
of the problem that this should be done. As I have previously
shown, such tests may be made upon single unconfined blocks or
disks of wet gun cotton, resting upon rigid iron supports, the evi-
dence of complete detonation being found in the impressions left
upon the iron support with which the explosive is in contact, and
this method was resorted to in this instance.
antes at ang Sere Gaaaty chee eaahnune
I 336 374 10.16 Detonated
2 293 330+ 11.21 “
3 342 387 11.63 pe
4 337 382 11.78 .
5 346 | 393+ 11.96 s
6 330 376 12.23 | Failed
7) 294 Bay] 12.77 Detonated
8 292 335 12.84 Failed
9 317 365 13.15 cg
Io 294 339 13.27 i
II 301 348 13.51 oC
12 294 341 13.78 ce
13 305 355 14.09 | Detonated
14 292 340 14.12 | Failed
15 286 336 14.88 ue
16 289 340+ 15.00 a
17 286 337 | 15.13 Detonated
18 289 343 15.74 | Failed
I9 287 341 15.84 gs
20 295 351 15.95 Ry
21 279 333+ 16.22 | cs
22 322 386+ 16.58 ae
23 293 353 17.00 ¢
24 313 378 17.20 oe
25 301 364 yA | ef
26 320 390 17.95 ee
In carrying out the tests steam-dried blocks of gun cotton, which
were to be used as priming charges, were carefully weighed. They
were then immersed in water for awhile and again weighed, the
increase in weight showing the amount of water that had been
absorbed by each priming block. Immediately after weighing, and
before evaporation from the primer could take place, these primers
were placed, one after the other, upon blocks of saturated “ wet”’
gun cotton and fired by the service detonator, containing 35 grains
of mercuric fulminate, in the usual manner. The results of the
trials are set forth in the following table, in which they are arranged
1909.] MUNROE—DETONATION OF GUN COTTON. bE
in the ascending order of the percentage of water present in the
priming blocks, although of necessity the experiments were made on
the primers as taken from the water and containing varying quanti-
ties of this substance.
The results show that detonation was effected in every case in
which the primer contained less than 12 per cent. of moisture, but
that this also occurred in experiments number 7, 13 and 17, in
which the primers contained 12.77, 14.09 and 15.13 per cent. of
water respectively. These irregularities may be explained by the
irregularity of absorption of water by these blocks, owing to a lack
of regularity of porosity in them, for we can readily understand
that if the centers of these blocks, about the detonator holes, were
more highly compressed and therefore denser than a portion of the
remainder of each block, while the total water absorbed by the block
would be represented by the percentages given, yet the center might
remain dry enough to respond to the effect of the detonation of the
mercuric fulminate in the detonator, and thus determine the detona-
tion of the whole primer and also of the wet gun cotton block with
which the latter was in contact. This criticism may also apply in
a reverse manner to the primers containing less than 12 per cent.
of water, but the likelihood of such an excess of water about the
detonator hole as to prevent the detonation of the primer becomes
the more remote the less the total percentage of water present. It
is true that these vagaries may have sometimes been due to varia-
tions in the detonators used, but this factor was eliminated in these
experiments, so far as seemed possible, by previous severe tests of
the detonators. Admitting all of these possibilities, it would still
seem reasonable to conclude from these experiments that primers
containing less than 12 per cent. of water, when fired by means of a
detonator containing 35 grains of mercuric fulminate may be relied
upon, so far as the moisture content is concerned, to detonate wet
gun cotton with which they are in contact.
THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY.
THE COMPARATIVE LEAR STRUCTURE (OR. ris
STRAND PEANTS (OR GNEW (ERSEY:
(Puates II-V.)
By JOHN W. HARSHBERGER, Pu.D.
(Read April 23, 1909.)
In the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society for
last year (XLVII: 97-110. 1908), I presented the results of my
study of the leaf structure of the sand dune plants of Bermuda.
So many points of interest developed in the course of that investi-
gation, that I undertook a study of the leaf structure of the char-
acteristic species growing along the sea shores of New Jersey. This
investigation was also in part a continuation of those previously
conducted on the geographic distribution of the New Jersey strand
flora begun in 1892 and continued down to the present year.
PHYTOGEOGRAPHY OF THE STRAND.
The strand flora of New Jersey comprises several well-marked
phytogeographic formations, namely, the sea beach formation, the
dune formation, the thicket formation and the salt marsh forma-
tion. The sea beach formation comprises those plants which grow
on the middle and upper beaches, the lower beach being wave swept.
The typic plants of this formation are Cakile edentula, Ammodenia
(Arenaria) peploides, Salsola kali, Euphorbia polygonifolia, Cen-
chrus tribuloides, Ammophila arenaria, Xanthium echinatum, Atri-
plex arenaria, Sesuvium maritimum, Strophostyles helvola and
Solidago sempervirens. The dunes of New Jersey consist of wind-
blown silicious sand and occur at greater or less height along the
entire coast from Sandy Hook to Cape May, while back of them
occur salt marshes which fringe the open bays, or river channels.
The character plants of the New Jersey dunes are the marram
72
1909.] STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 13
grass, Ammophila arenaria (Plate II, Fig. 1), which anchors the
sand, the beach pea, Lathyrus maritimus, Hudsoma tomentosa
(Plate II, Fig. 2), Solidago sempervirens, Euphorbia polygon-
folia, the wax berry, Myrica carolinensis, poison ivy, Rhus radicans,
beach plum, Prunus maritima, and Virginia creeper, Ampelopsis
(Parthenocissus) quinquefolia.
The thicket formation (Plate III, Fig. 3), as it exists on the
New Jersey strand consists in some places entirely of shrubs, in
other places, it is composed of trees which form a characteristic
forest growth. The vanguard of this thicket consists of cedars,
Juniperus virginiana, which never rise above the level of the dunes
among which they grow. Young trees in the dune hollows are
spire-shaped, but upon the tops reaching the general level of the
dune summits, they become flat-topped and incline in a direction
opposite to the prevailing wind. The following species enter into
the thicket formation throughout coastal New Jersey: Juniperus
virginiana, Q. nana (=—(Q. ilicifolia), Q. lyrata, Q. obtusiloba
(=Q. minor), Q. phellos, Pinus rigida, Sassafras officinale, Dio-
spyros virginiana, Nyssa sylvatica, Acer rubrum, Magnolia glauca
(= WM. virginiana), and as secondary species in the form of shrubs
Rhus copallina, Prunus maritima, Vaccinium atrococcum, V. corym-
bosum, Myrica carolinensis and such lianes as Vitis Labrusca, V.
estivalis, Ampelopsis quinquefola, Rhus radicans together with
a host of herbaceous species mentioned in former papers.
Geographically there are two regions of salt marshes along the
New Jersey coast, viz., that of the northern coast, north of the
head of Barnegat Bay and that of the south and middle coast along
Barnegat Bay and southward to Cape May. The salt marshes on
the north coast are confined to the shores of the rivers which man-
age to cut their way through the sand barriers in order to reach
the ocean. They are, therefore, comparatively circumscribed in
area and are, as a rule, narrow strips bordering the tidal channels
of the seaward-flowing streams. The salt marshes, however, south
of Bay Head widen out into extensive expanses of flat, featureless
character cut by numerous tidal channels (Plate III, Fig. 4). Those
north of Barnegat Inlet nowhere exceed a mile in width, while south
74 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
of Barnegat Inlet the salt marshes widen out until in places they may
be from two to four miles wide cut by thoroughfares into character-
istic marsh islands. The tidal channels are generally bordered
throughout the two regions by the tall salt grass, Spartina stricta
maritima, back of which occur Spartina patens, Juncus Gerardi and
Distichlis spicata. On the flat marsh only flooded to a depth of
an inch or two at high tide occur Limonium carolinanum, Plantago
maritima, Aster subulatus, Sueda linearis, Distichlis spicata, Cheno-
podium rubrum, Pluchea camphorata, Salicornia herbacea, S. mu-
cronata, Tissa marina and Gerardia maritima, while Baccharis
halimifolia and Hibiscus moscheutos occur in salt marsh soil which
is never flooded with each rising tide. Eleocharis pygmeus forms
floating mats in the sloughs surrounded by salt marsh at Sea Side
Park: (Plate IE Pig. 4).
Ecotocic FACTORS.
The ecologic factors must be considered under two heads, be-
cause the strand plants are found growing under two distinct en-
vironmental conditions. The typic strand plants display various
xerophytic adaptations to their growth in the silicious sand of the
sea beaches and sand dunes. The factors which are instrumental
in producing the xerophytic structures which the leaves of strand
plants show may be considered to be the following: (1) The per-
meability of the sand to water, so that after a rain the surface
layers dry out. (2) The action of strong winds that blow across
the sandy beaches increasing the rate of transpiration materially
and carrying sand, which is directed against the plant, as a sand-
blast. (3) The relatively dry soil and the increased transpiration
by wind action necessitates the adoption of structures which will
enable the plant to conserve its water supply. (4) The reflection
of light from the sand and the foam-crested breakers beyond is
influential, but this influence is not so marked as in Bermuda where
the sand is a white coral sand and presumably the sunlight is
reflected to a greater extent. (5) The illumination from above has
also been effective, but perhaps not so much so as in Bermuda.
(6) The action of the salt spray blown inland by the wind is
1909. ] STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 75
effective in modifying the structure of the beach and dune plants,
but is hardly active upon the species of the thicket formation.
(7) Formerly it was supposed that the plants of the sea beaches
had to contend against the salt content of the soil, but Kearney has
shown that the amount of salt in the sand of sea beaches is a
negligible quantity, as many agricultural soils of the interior con-
tain relatively more salt than the seashore sand.
While the beach plants have, therefore, according to the re-
searches of Kearney, been removed from the list of true halophytes,
nevertheless the typic salt marsh species show marked halophytic
adaptations and belong to the second category of strand plants.
The most potent factor which is here influential is the presence
of free salt water about the bases and roots of the salt marsh plants.
It was pointed out by Schimper that any considerable amount of
salt in the cell sap is detrimental to the plant and that here we have
the probable cause of the characteristic halophytic modifications
which aim, therefore, at decreasing the amount of water transpired.
To this Warming replied, that even if transpiration were diminished,
slowly, but surely, an amount of salt would accumulate in the plant
which would prove its destruction. On the other hand, Warming
proposed that the protective contrivances against strong transpira-
tion are necessary in halophytes, because absorption of water from
a salt solution is slow and difficult and what water the plant had
absorbed must be conserved in order to provide against desiccation,
while the plant is absorbing enough water to replace that lost in
ordinary transpiration. Sodium chloride in solution is known to
have strong plasmolytic properties, removing water from living
cells when subjected to its action. Ganong has found that the root
hairs of Salicornia herbacea, a typic halophyte, can endure a 100
per cent. sea water without plasmolysis; those of Su@da maritima
80 per cent.; those of Plantago maritima 70 per cent.; while those
of Atriplex patulum withstood 50 per cent. sea water. Graves
found that the root hairs of Ruppia maritima could stand a 105
per cent. sea water with occasionally very slight plasmolysis, while
with 110 per cent. sea water, it was rather slow, but finally distinct.
So that the group of halophytes with which we are here dealing
76 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
possesses great power of resisting the action of sodium chloride
in solutions as strong, as sea water. This is reflected in their
structure.
STRUCTURAL ADAPTATIONS.
These will be treated as applicable to the strand plants, as one
category, and to the salt marsh plants as the other.
Strand Plants—The leaf adaptations to light are found in the
increased number of palisade layers, their presence on the upper
and under sides of the leaves and their arrangement, so that the
central part of the leaf becomes palisade throughout. When both
leaf surfaces are equally illuminated, the leaf may be termed iso-
photic, when unequally illuminated, diphotic. Diphotic leaves which
show a division into palisade and spongy parenchyma have been
called by Clements diphotophylls. Isophotic leaves are of three
types, viz., the staurophyll, or palisade leaf; the diplophyll, or double
leaf; the spongophyll, where the rounded parenchyma cells make
up the bulk of the leaf in cross-section. Succulent leaves are those
developed for water storage and to some extent the presence of
latex provides against desiccation. The depression of the stomata,
the development of a thick cuticle, the presence of a hypodermis
of thick-walled cells, the presence of hairs and the formation of
air-still chambers by a folding of the leaf tissue are all structures
which assist in the regulation of transpiration. The following
is a classification of the different leaf structures with reference to
the strand plants which illustrate such adaptive arrangements.
Thick Cuticle: Ammophila arenaria, Quercus obtusiloba,
Ilex opaca.
Thick Epidermis: Baccharis halimifolia, Ampelopsis quinque-
folia, Euphorbia polygonfolia, Cakile edentula.
Hypodermis Present: Ammophila arenaria.
Two or More Rows of Palisade Cells: Lathyrus maritimus,
Strophostyles helvola, Ampelopsis quinquefolia, Quercus obtusiloba,
Vitis Labrusca, Ilex opaca, Baccharis halimifolia.
Stomata Depressed (slightly): Euphorbia polygonifolia, Lathy-
rus maritimus, Ilex opaca, Hudsoma tomentosa; (deeply) Am-
mophila arenaria, Lathyrus maritimus (Sea Side Park), Atriplex
hastata, Vitis Labrusca.
1909. ] STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. ce
Succulent Leaf: Cakile edentula, Solidago sempervirens, Atriplex
hastata.
Leathery Leaf: Lathyrus maritimus, Ampelopsis quinquefolia,
Quercus obtusiloba, Xanthium echinatum, Ilex opaca.
Wiry Leaf: Ammophila arenaria, Cenchrus tribuloides,
Hairy Leaf: Ammophila arenaria, Xanthium echinatum, Quercus
falcata, Hudsoma tomentosa, Vitis Labrusca, V. estivalis, Cenchrus
tribuloides.
Leaf Surface Papillate: Euphorbia polygonifolia.
Leaf Becoming Erect in Sun Position: Strophostyles helvola,
Lathyrus maritimus, Euphorbia polygomfolia (leaf blade folding
along the midrib).
Overlapping Leaves: Hudsonia tomentosa.
Latex Tissue: Euphorbia polygontfolia.
Raphides: Vitis estivalis, V. Labrusca.
Spherocrystals: Atriplex hastata, Ilex opaca.
Idioblasts: Cenchrus tribuloides.
Diphotophyll: Euphorbia polygonifolia, Strophostyles helvola,
Lathyrus maritimus, Ampelopsis quinquefolia, Quercus obtusiloba,
QO. falcata, Vitis Labrusca, V. estivalis, Ilex opaca, Baccharis halimi-
folia.
Diplophyll: Cakile edentula, Atriplex hastata (Belmar), Xan-
thium echinatum.
Staurophyll: Atriplex hastata (Normandie), Solidago sem-
pervirens.
Spongophyll: Hudsonia tomentosa, Cenchrus tribuloides.
Salt Marsh Plants—The majority of the salt marsh species
studied showed two marked characteristics, namely, succulency and
wiriness. The following is a categoric presentation of the structure
of their leaves. The smooth character of the leaves will be noted
with the exception of Gerardia maritima, Hibiscus moscheutos,
Pluchea camphorata which grow back in the interior of the salt
marshes away from the tidal water.
Thick Cuticle: Spartina stricta maritima (lower surface).
Thick Epidermis: Distichlis spicata (lower surface), Aster
78 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
subulatus, Sueda linearis, Gerardia maritima, Limonium caro-
linianum.
Hypodermis Present: Spartina stricta maritima, Distichlis
spicata.
Two or More Rows of Palisade Cells: Aster subulatus, Limon-
ium carolinianum, Gerardia maritima, Hibiscus moscheutos.
Stomata Depressed: Spartina stricta maritima, Tissa marina,
Plantago maritima, Aster subulatus, Chenopodium rubrum.
Hairy Leaf: Gerardia maritima, Hibiscus moscheutos, Pluchea
camphorata.
Succulent Leaf: Tissa marina, Plantago maritima, Aster subu-
latus, Sueda linearis, Chenopodium rubrum, Limonium carolin-
ianum.
Wiry Leaf: Spartina stricta maritima, Distichlis spicata, Ger-
ardia maritima.
Leathery Leaf: Hibiscus moscheutos, Pluchea camphorata.
Diphotophyll: Aster subulatus (drawing is upside down),
Limonium carolinianum, Gerardia maritima, Hibiscus moscheutos.
Diplophyll: Tissa marina, Sueda linearis.
Staurophyll: Chenopodium rubrum.
Spongophyll: Plantago maritima, Pluchea camphorata.
DETAILED SRTUCTURE OF THE LEAVES.
The sections of the leaves which were studied were made free-
hand with a razor, stained with Bismarck Brown and mounted for
permanency in Canada Balsam. The drawings of these sections
were made by the use of the micro-projection electric lantern, so
that in every case (32 leaves) the sections were enlarged to the
same extent and therefore the drawings were made on the same,
scale. The details of leaf structure and those of the stomata were
made from a microscopic study after the main features of the
leaf structure had been located by the micro-projection lantern. In
this way the relative size of each leaf section is maintained in the
thirty-two detailed drawings presented in the accompanying two
plates (Plates [V and V). The drawings of stomata were not made
toyseale,
vedo STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 79
Strand Plants—The typic sand-inhabiting plants will be de-
scribed first.
Ammophila arenaria (Plate II, Fig. 1; Plate IV, Figs. 1, 1a,
2, 2a).—The beach, or marram grass, is a perennial species with
firm, running rootstocks, which on account of their length, and the
readiness with which the rigid, leafy culms arise from them serve
to bind the drifting sand. The one-flowered spikelets are crowded
in a long spike which reaches its full development in August and
September. The leaves are involute and in a Wildwood-grown
specimen (Plate IV, Fig. 1) examined microscopically the lower
epidermis consisted of small cells with thick outer wall reinforced
by 2-3 rows of hypodermal sclerenchyma isolated in patches below
the vascular bundles. The upper epidermis, covering the grooves
and the ridges, is irregular owing to the development of short,
sharp-pointed hairs like canine teeth, which help to form an air-still
chamber. The stomata are much depressed and level with the
lower wall of the epidermal cells (Plate IV, Figs. 1a and 2a).
Beneath the epidermis, hypodermal sclerenchyma is found in several
well-marked rows. The chlorenchyma occupies a position on either
side of the veins which run lengthwise. In the leaf section of a
plant gathered at South Atlantic City (Plate IV, Fig. 2), the lower
epidermis is reinforced by a continuous band of hypodermal scleren-
chyma. The hypodermal sclerenchyma in the upper part of the
ridges is more abundant than in the Wildwood-grown plants. A
section of a leaf from a plant that grew on the low dunes of Belmar
had comparatively little hypodermal sclerenchyma and in every way
it was a thinner leaf than those from the Wildwood and South
Atlantic City specimens.
Euphorbia polygonifolia (Plate IV, Figs. 3 and 3a).—The sea-
side spurge is a prostrate, spreading herb, with oblong-linear leaves
slightly cordate, or obtuse at the base and folding together along
the midrib. The most conspicuous feature in the section is the
large latex canals which fairly fill the center of the leaves and are
marked by large surrounding, secreting cells. The upper epidermal
cells are papillate, and the lower epidermal cells are without these
papilla, but the outer wall is thickened. The stomata are slightly
PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. I9I F, PRINTED JULY 6, 1909.
80 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
depressed (Plate IV, Fig. 3a). The loose parenchyma is prominent,
as also the single row of palisade cells.
Strophostyles helvola (Plate IV, Figs. 4 and 4a).—This annual,
trailing, leguminous herb has ovate to oblong-ovate leaflets with a
more or less prominent rounded lobe toward the base. The flowers
produced from June to September are greenish-white to purplish.
In the hot sun, the leaflets assume hot-sun positions. The cells of
the upper epidermis are thin-walled with the outer wall slightly
thickened. Two well-marked rows of palisade cells are present,
while the stomata are at the surface (Fig. 4a). The loose paren-
chyma is clearly seen and the lower epidermis consists of thin-
walled cells.
Lathyrus maritimus (Plate IV, Figs. 5, 5a, 7, 7a2).—The beach
pea is a perennial, stout, trailing plant, as it occurs on the dunes
of New Jersey. The coarsely toothed stipules are nearly as large
as the leaflets, which are 6-10 in number, ovate-oblong. The leaf-
lets assume hot-sun positions, especially those near the surface of
the sand. The flowers are large and purplish, appearing from June
to September. The epidermal cells on both the upper and lower
surfaces of the leaflets are thin-walled with a slightly thicker outer
wall, rounded, almost chain-like in arrangement. The loose paren-
chyma is compact and there are two rows of palisade cells.
Cakile edentula (Plate II, Fig. 1; Plate IV, Figs. 6 and 6a).—
The sea rocket is a fleshy annual growing on the upper sea beaches
and in clumps on the sand dunes (Plate II, Fig. 1). Its fleshy
leaves are obovate, sinuate and toothed. The epidermal cells are
large with outer walls slightly thickened, while the parenchyma cells
are large and directed vertically with the exception of a few central
cells, so that the leaf structure is that of a typic diplophyll. The
stomata are at the surface (Fig. 6a). The xerophytic structure is,
therefore, seen in the fleshy character of the leaf and in the arrange-
ment of the internal parenchyma cells. ;
Solidago sempervirens (Plate IV, Figs. 8 and 8a).—The seaside
golden-rod is a smooth, stout plant 0.3-0.5 m. high. The somewhat
fleshy leaves are entire, lanceolate, slightly clasping; the lower ones
are oblong-lanceolate, obscurely triple-nerved and all of the leaves
1909. ] STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 81
are vertical or nearly so. The contracted panicle of heads appears
from August to November. The thin-walled, upper epidermal cells
are approximately square in outline in the transverse view, only
the outer wall being somewhat thickened. Chlorenchyma cells
almost homogeneous, are directed vertically, hence the leaf is a
staurophyll.
Atriplex hastata (=A. patula var. hastata) (Plate IV, Figs.
9, 9a, 10 and 10a).—The orache is an erect, or spreading, stout
plant and at least the lower leaves are broadly triangular, hastate,
often coarsely and irregularly toothed. The upper and lower epi-
dermal cells are large, thin-walled. The chlorenchyma of similar
elongated cells extends from the upper to the lower surface, so that
the leaf is a typic staurophyll. Large sphzrocrystals are present
in the parenchyma cells of the leaf and the guard cells of the sto-
mata are considerably sunken beneath the surface (Figs. 9a and
toa). The leaves of the specimen from Belmar were somewhat
thinner than those from Normandie and the chlorenchyma cells
were more rounded.
Hudsonia tomentosa (Plate II, Fig. 2; Plate IV, Figs. 11, 11a).
—The dunes are in many places covered with this heath-like plant
(Plate II, Fig. 2), which is an important sand binder, as it grows
in dense clumps. The small awl-shaped leaves are oval or narrowly
oblong and are close-pressed and imbricated, covered with a downy
tomentum. The epidermal cells of the leaves are thin-walled and
covered with slender, sharp-pointed hairs with a smooth cuticle.
The hairs are so numerous on both sides of the leaf, that they act
effectively in controlling transpiration. The guard cells of the
stomata are only slightly depressed (Fig. 11a).
Cenchrus tribuloides (Plate IV, Figs. 12, 12a and 12b).—The
sand bur grass branches extensively and sometimes has the trailing
habit. The blades are more or less involute, owing to the presence
of bulliform cells. The upper epidermal cells are marked by crys-
talline idioblasts (Fig. 12a) in an elongated form like the cystoliths
in the leaf of the rubber plant, Ficus elastica. The epidermal cells
on the under side of the leaf where the sclerenchyma occurs are
terminated by short cusp-like spines. The guard cells (Figs. 12)
82 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
and 12c) are not sunken below the general surface. The upper
epidermal cells are large, irregular in size and rounded. The lower
epidermal cells are irregular and consist of bulliform with spiny
hair cells opposite the leaf veins. The leaf exhibits a typic spongo-
phyll structure.
Xanthium echinatum (Plate IV, Figs. 13 and 13a).—The cockle
bur has broadly ovate, cordate leaves and the whole plant is rugose,
especially the leaf surfaces. The upper and lower epidermal cells
are thin-walled and provided with stout, projecting, multicellular
hairs. The palisade cells extend through the leaf except a narrow
row of cells near the center. Although this leaf has been classified
as a diplophyll, yet it might with equal propriety be called a
staurophyll.
Quercus obtusiloba (Plate IV, Fig. 14). —The post oak is a com-
mon tree in the pure dune sand of the New Jersey coast. The
leaves are obovate in outline, 1-2 dm. long, the usually fine lobes
spreading, the middle pair of sinuses are deep, wide and obliquely
rounded at the bottom of the lobes. The leaves are leathery, thick
and shining with scattered hairs above, densely gray, or yellowish
hairy beneath. The epidermal cells are small with thick cuticle
and the lower surface shows the presence of multicellular hairs.
The palisade rows number from two to three and the loose paren-
chyma is compact. The leaf is a typic diphotophyll.
Quercus falcata (Plate IV, Figs. 15 and 15a).—The Spanish
oak has leaves which are prolonged into a-more or less scythe-
shaped lobe with the under leaf surfaces grayish-downy or fulvous.
The upper epidermal cells are large and thin-walled, as are also
the lower epidermal cells. From the lower surface, a lot of com-
pound hairs project, the tines of which are straight, sharp-pointed
cells. The stomata are not depressed and a single row of palisade
cells is present, so that the leaf is a typic diphotophyll.
Vitis Labrusca (Plate IV, Figs. 16 and 16a).—The northern fox
grape has large leaves which are entire, or deeply lobed, slightly
dentate. They are rusty-wooly beneath. The vines begin their
growth on the forest trees, and as the sand drifts in around them,
the grape vine branches grow out in a prostrate manner over the
1909.] STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 83
surface of the dune sand. The upper epidermal cells are thin-
walled. The palisade layer consists of one row of cells and below
it we find cells here and there containing a mucilaginous substance
in which are imbedded raphides, or needle-shaped crystals. The
loose parenchyma is prominent and the lower epidermal cells are
thin-walled and from them grow out long unicellular, sharp-pointed,
straight hairs which become matted together. This hairy covering
is of use in the regulation of transpiration. The guard cells are
somewhat depressed (Fig. 16a) and the leaf exhibits a typic di-
photophyll structure.
Vitis estivalis (Plate IV, Fig. 17)—The summer grape has large
unlobed or more or less deeply and obtusely 3—5-lobed leaves, pro-
vided with a very wooly and mostly rust-red, or tawny-flocculent
tomentum. This tomentum does not appear in the section, because
the wooly hairs are mostly attached to the veins beneath and merely
cover the epidermal surface between, so that a section which does
not include the veins does not show the hairy covering of the under
side of the leaf. The upper and lower epidermal cells are thin-
walled and in the single palisade layer are found cells containing
a mucilage in which are imbedded raphides, or needle-shaped crys-
tals of calcium oxalate.
Ilex opaca (Plate III, Fig. 3; Plate IV, Figs. 18 and 18a).—In
the reproduced photograph (Plate III, Fig. 3), the holly is found
associated with Sassafras officinale, Rhus radicans and Solidago
sempervirens. The leathery oval, spiny-margined holly leaves have
an upper epidermis of small cells covered with an extremely thick
cuticle. Three rows of palisade chlorenchyma are present and a
loose parenchyma, as an area of considerable width with large inter-
cellular lacunz. The lower epidermis consists of thick-walled cells
and the guard cells, if sunken, are only depressed to the extent of
the thick cuticle. Sphzrocrystals are present in some of the cells
of the third palisade row of cells. A tree with spineless-margined
leaves was formerly found on the dunes at South Atlantic City.
The leaf is a typic, xerophytic diphotophyll.
Baccharis halimifolia (Plate IV, Figs. 19 and 19a2).—The leaves
of the groundsel bush are thickish, vertical and obovate to wedge-
84 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
shaped, coarsely toothed, or the upper leaves entire. The upper
epidermal cells have a considerably thickened outer wall with a
warty cuticle. Stomata occur on both leaf surfaces with their
guard cells not depressed below the surface. Palisade chlorenchyma
of two rows of cells extends to the centrally placed bundles of the
leaf and it is rather openly arranged. The loose parenchyma with
large spaces shows its cells generally directed in a vertical manner,
suggesting a staurophyll, but the bifacial structure is clearly recog-
nizable, so that we may classify the leaf as a diphotophyll. The
lower epidermis of thin-walled cells shows a roughened outer cell
wall surface.
Ampelopsis quinquefolia (Plate IV, Figs. 20 and 20a).—The
Virginia creeper with a compound leaf with five leaflets is an ele-
ment of the dune flora of New Jersey. It begins to ascend forest
trees, and if these trees are surrounded by drifting sand, the vine
spreads out over the sand surface. In other places, it grows on
the surface of the dunes and helps to bind the wind-blown sand.
The sand-grown plants have leathery leaves in which the upper
epidermal cells are compact with the outer wall thickened and its
surface rugose. Two rows of palisade cells may be found and the
loose parenchyma occupies the other half of the leaf below the
midrib and the veins. The stomata are not sunken, and the leaf
is a typic diphotophyll.
Salt Marsh Plants—The plants of this group are all of them
true halophytes, and at the conclusion of the description which fol-
lows of the histology of their leaves, a comparison will be drawn
between their leaf structure and that of the leaves of the sand
strand plants previously described.
Spartina stricta maritima (= S. glabra) (Plate V, Figs. 21 and
21a).—The salt marsh grass is a tall species 0.6-2.4 m. high, leafy
to the top and growing along the shore in pure salt water. The
leaves are 5-7 dm. long, I-1.5 cm. wide, usually flat, but sometimes
involute. The lower epidermal cells are strongly cuticularized, and
where the bundles occur they are reinforced with hypodermal scler-
enchyma. The upper leaf surface is raised into ridges, which are
covered with small cuticularized epidermal cells without hairs, while
1909.1. STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 85
the stomata found near the bottom of the grooves have their guard
cells depressed below the surface (Fig. 21a). Bulliform cells are
absent. The chlorenchyma is radially arranged on each side of the
bundles, while the parenchyma sheath surrounding the bundles also
contains some chlorophyll.
Distichlis spicata (Plate V, Fig. 22).—The spike grass, or alkali
grass, occurs in the salt marshes along our eastern coast from Nova
Scotia to Texas, along the Pacific coast and in alkaline soil through
the interior to the Rocky Mountains and southward in alkali sinks
into Mexico. The culms are 1.5-6 dm. high and the leaf blades are
often conspicuously distichous, rigidly ascending. The lower epi-
dermis consists of thick-walled cells, the outer wall being especially
thick. The upper epidermis consists of projecting hair cells with
thick walls resembling in shape a canine tooth and found covering
the ridges down into the grooves between, so that an air-still chamber
is formed. The bundles are surrounded with thick-walled cells,
which are in turn engirdled by a parenchyma sheath, while the rest
of the leaf section is occupied by chlorenchyma.
Tissa marina (== Buda marina, Spergularia salina, Spergularia
marina) (Plate V, Figs. 23 and 23a).—The sand spurrey is a much-
branched, procumbent, or suberect, annual herb more or less dis-
tinctly fleshy. The leaves are linear and terete surrounded with
large, thin-walled, epidermal cells with several rows of palisade
parenchyma directly beneath and completely surrounding the large
thin-walled parenchyma cells of the interior. The stomata are de-
pressed below the surface (Fig. 23a). <A typic, succulent diplophyll.
Plantago maritima (=P. decipiens) (Plate V, Figs. 24 and
24a).—The seaside plantain has linear to nearly filiform leaves I-10
mm. broad, indistinctly ribbed and fleshy. The epidermal cells are
large thin-walled with the outer wall slightly thickened with minute
projecting points. Palisade cells are entirely absent and large
parenchyma cells with chlorophyll fill the interior, extending to the
bundles placed near the center. The stomata are not depressed, or
only slightly so (Fig. 24a).
Aster subulatus (Plate V, Figs. 25 and 25a).—The leaves of
the salt marsh aster are linear-lanceolate and pointed. The upper
86 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
leaf surface (turned upside down in Fig. 25) consists of thick-
walled epidermal cells beneath which are two rows of illy defined,
palisade cells, while beneath the palisade are compactly-placed,
rounded chlorenchyma cells extending to the loose parenchyma
cells with large intercellular spaces. The lower convex, epidermal
surface is composed of thick-walled cells, the outer wall being espe-
cially thick. The guard cells are depressed the thickness of the
outer cell wall (Fig. 25a).
Limonium carolinianum (Plate V, Figs. 26 and 26a).—The sea
lavender has thick, stalked, radical leaves from which the much-
branched scape arises, bearing small, lavender-colored flowers. The
epidermal cells are large, thin-walled, but the outer wall is slightly
thicker than the other walls. Two rows of palisade cells are found
and a spongy parenchyma of rounded cells. The stomata are at the
surface (Fig. 26a).
Sueda linearis (Plate V, Fig. 27).—The sea blite is an erect,
or ascending, fleshy, saline plant 2-9 dm. high. Its leaves are nar-
rowly linear and acute. The epidermal cells are thin-walled, but
project as rounded knobs the tops of which are thickened, The
chlorenchyma, as palisade tissue, is found equally developed on the
upper and the lower surfaces, while the interior cells are large and
rounded parenchyma elements. A typic diplophyll.
Gerardia maritima (Plate V, Figs. 28 and 28a).—This marsh
plant is a slender, erect, branching annual, somewhat fleshy with
linear, obtuse leaves. The upper leaf epidermis has two kinds of
hairs, straight, projecting ones and low, dome-shaped hairs, the
terminal cells containing a brown substance. The palisade chloren-
chyma forms two well-defined rows with compact spongy paren-
chyma beneath. The lower epidermis consists of thin-walled cells
with superficial guard cells (Fig. 28a).
Chenopodium rubrum (Plate V, Figs. 29 and 29a).—The coast
blite has a much-branched, angled stem with thickish, triangular, ©
lanceolate leaves tapering below into a wedge-shaped base and above
into an acute point, sparingly and coarsely toothed. The epidermal
cells are thin-walled, with the outer wall curved outward. The
vascular bundles are centrally placed, while the elongated, rounded
1909.] SAND PLANTS “OF NEW JERSEY, 87
chlorenchyma cells are aligned as palisade. Spherocrystals are
abundant and the guard cells are depressed considerably (Fig. 29a).
Hibiscus moscheutos (Plate V, Figs. 30 and 30a).—The swamp
rose-mallow is a tall perennial with showy rose pink, pink or white
flowers and alternate ovate, pointed leaves, sometimes 3-lobed with
a downy, whitened, under surface. The upper epidermal cells are
comparatively thin-walled, while the lower epidermis of thin-walled
cells is characterized by clusters of long, straight, pointed hairs
densely matted together. There are two rows of palisade cells
beneath which is found spongy parenchyma, while the guard cells of
the stomata are slightly raised above the general epidermal surface
(Fig. 30a). The leaf is a diphotophyll.
Pluchea camphorata (Plate V, Figs. 31 and 31a).—The salt
marsh fleabane is an annual with oblong-ovate, or lanceolate, slightly
petioled leaves. The stem and leaves are somewhat glandular,
emitting a strong, or camphoric, odor. The epidermal cells are thin-
walled and multicellular hairs abound on both surfaces. The sto-
mata are not depressed (Fig. 31a). The chlorenchyma in the form
of rounded cells is not differentiated into palisade and spongy paren-
chyma. A spongophyll.
Eleocharis pygmea (= E. nana) (Plate V, Figs. 32 and 32a).—
This small sedge formed small floating masses on the surface of the
salt water sloughs at Sea Side Park (Plate III, Fig. 4). The bristle-
like culms are tufted at the base and in section show large air canals,
or lacunz, surrounded by small thin-walled parenchyma cells. The
bundles are reduced in size and the epidermis is composed of small
thin-walled cells. A typic hydrophyte adapted to an halophytic
existence.
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.
We have listed twenty plants among those which grow on the
sand strand and eleven which may be considered to be typic salt
marsh species. Out of the twenty strand plants four are suc-
culent, or twenty per cent., while out of eleven salt marsh species
six are succulent, or over fifty per cent., so that the salt marsh
species are preponderantly succulent. Only three of the salt marsh
plants studied have epidermal hairs, while nine of the strand plants
88 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
are hairy. Eleven of the strand species are diphotophylls, and of
these six have two rows of palisade chlorenchyma. Only four of
the salt marsh species are diphotophylls, and each of them has two
palisade rows. Reference to the classification of sand strand and
salt marsh species given above will enable the student to pick out
other differences existing between the sand strand and the salt
marsh species, as regards their leaf structure. ‘e
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES.
Little has been done in America to study the influence of envir-
onment upon the internal structure of plants, but a start has been
made and it is only a matter of time when a large amount of im-
portant data will have been collected for comparison and generaliza-
tion. As bearing upon the study of the sea strand vegetation may
be mentioned the following papers. Kearney has discussed in his
paper, ‘“ The Plant Covering of Ocracoke Island: A Study in the
Ecology of the North Carolina Strand Vegetation” (Contributions
U. S. National Herbarium, V: 280-312), the histologic structure of
plants found upon Ocracoke Island as sand strand and salt marsh
species. In this paper the following plants concern us: Spartina
stricta, Tissa marina, Solidago sempervirens, Aster subulatus and
Baccharis halimifolia. In a second paper, “ Report on a Botanical
Survey of the Dismal Swamp Region” (Contributions U. S. Na-
tional Herbarium, V: 484-509), under anatomic notes, Kearney
discusses the leaf structure of some selected plants. None of these
plants actually concern this paper, except Pluchea fetida and Bac-
charis halimifolia. Edith Schwartz Clements, in a thesis submitted
to the faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Nebraska
for the degree of doctor of philosophy (June, 1904), gives a useful
historic résumé of the study of leaf structure from an ecologic
standpoint and also considers in a detailed manner the structure of
about three hundred species collected in the Colorado foothills and
mountains of the Pikes Peak region of the Rocky Mountains with
reference to the surrounding physical factors, which were deter-
mined by careful instrumental readings. Lastly, Harshberger, in a
paper noticed above, discusses the leaf structure of some seventeen
PROCEEDINGS Am. PHILOS. Soc. VoL. XLVIII. No. 191 PLATE II
PROCEEDINGS Am. PHiLos. Soc. VoL. XLVIII. No. 191 PLATE III
PROCEEDINGS Am. PHILOS. Soc. VoL. XLVIII No. 191 PLATE IV
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1909. ] STRAND” PEANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 89
species of Bermudan plants with relation to the environmental fac-
tors of the sand dunes upon which the plants grew. In this paper
a short bibliography of the principal papers is given.
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.
In Plate II, Fig. 1, is shown the frontal sea dune at Sea Side
Park covered with the marram grass Ammophila arenaria and a
large clump of Cakile edentula, while in Fig. 2 is represented the
crest of the frontal dune covered with marram grass, back of which
occur the waxberry Myrica carolinensis and the clumps of Hud-
sonia tomentosa.
The photograph reproduced in Plate III, Fig. 3, represents the
thicket formation at South Sea Side Park composed of Jlex opaca,
Sassafras officinale, Rhus radicans and Solidago sempervirens. In
Fig. 4, Plate III, is represented a slough with floating rafts of Eleo-
charis pygmea. The twenty enlarged figures with details of stomata,
shown in Plate IV, represent the structure of the leaves of the sand
strand plants of New Jersey, while the twelve figures and stomata
enlargements represent the leaf structure of typic salt marsh species
(Gelate 3V)).
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FRESH-WATER FAUNA
IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA.
(PiaTeE VI.)
By DR. A. E. ORTMANN.
(Read April 23, 1909.)
It is generally known that the advance of civilization in a coun-
try is connected with a retreat and the disappearance of the indige-
nous fauna. This has been observed most distinctly in those parts
of the world which have been settled by the white man in more
recent times, and in many cases we have positive records with ref-
erence to the killing and crowding out of the original inhabitants of
the country, belonging to the animal kingdom; yet these records
chiefly concern the more highly developed forms of life (mammals
or vertebrates in general), which preéminently attract attention.
But there are many other forms of animal life, chiefly among the
invertebrates, which suffer the same fate. Such cases generally are
not noticed, but students particularly interested in such groups often
have reason to deplore the disappearance of interesting creatures,
which used to be abundant.
The present writer, in connection with his duties as curator of
invertebrate zodlogy at the Carnegie Museum, has made it one of
his chief objects to study and to preserve records of the fresh-water
fauna of the northeastern section of the United States, and first of
all, of the country lying in the immediate vicinity of Pittsburgh.
This region belongs to the drainage of the upper Ohio and of Lake
Erie, and it is well known that originally a very rich fauna was
present here, a fauna which forms part of the great fauna of the
interior basin, eminently rich in all forms of fresh-water life. It
is also a well-known fact that on account of the progress of civiliza-
tion in western Pennsylvania, on account of its industrial and com-
mercial development, and all the various features of “improve-
90
1909.] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 91
ments” connected with it, the fresh-water fauna has deteriorated,
has become poor, and in many cases extinct. Yet it is not realized
how far this process has advanced, and to what extent the fresh
water of this region has become unfit for the indigenous life. The
present paper has the object to record the present state of things in
this respect, and to point out which rivers and creeks are in such a
state that they do not offer any more the required conditions for
animal life, and which are yet in a good or fair condition. It may
be remarked that all facts collected here have been ascertained by
the writer in person, in the course of his studies during the last five
years. All streams recorded on the map accompanying this paper
(Plate VI) have been visited by the writer, and collections of their
invertebrate fauna and observations on their vertebrate fauna have
been made, wherever such was still present: but in many cases his
efforts were in vain, and life had entirely disappeared in many
streams. The blue color on our map tells a pitiful story, pitiful not
only from the standpoint of the scientific man, but also with refer-
ence to the question of utility. For we must not forget that the
original fauna of the fresh water forms part of the
sources” of the country. In many cases the direct economic value,
ce
natural re-
chiefly of the fresh-water invertebrates, is not very apparent; but
considering the fact that all forms of life in an ecological com-
munity are mutually dependent upon each other, we realize that the
more important forms (mussels, fishes and aquatic mammals) can-
not be preserved, unless the creatures which furnish the necessary
conditions for their subsistence are also preserved. Thus the de-
struction of our fresh-water fauna forms a chapter of the book on
the destruction of our natural resources, a record which is not at
all to the credit of the nation.
I. THe FrReESH-WATER FAUNA.
The part of the fresh-water fauna which has chiefly been studied
by the writer is, as has been stated, the invertebrates. However,
during his investigations, he kept his eyes open for vertebrate life,
and among the latter it is chiefly the fishes to which he paid atten-
tion. He did not make systematic collections of the fishes, and thus
92 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
he cannot give positive information as to the presence or absence of
particular species of them. But the question of their existence in
general in the different streams is easily settled, in fact this is the
most conspicuous criterion by which people generally judge the con-
dition of a stream—whether there is “ good fishing” or not.
However, the presence of fishes in a stream does not always
indicate that the latter is in good shape. The condition of the
streams, as we shall see below, often changes during the season;
it is bad in dry weather, but improves when there has been copious
precipitation. The fishes are most apt to take advantage of such
temporary improvement on account of their great power of locomo-
tion (vagility) ; in fact, many fishes migrate more or less regularly
up or down stream, and thus may be present at certain seasons in
parts of our water-courses, which are barren in other seasons.
Other vertebrates are of minor importance. Among the mam-
mals we should mention the muskrat (Fiber zibethicus). This
animal is fairly abundant everywhere, but, as might be expected,
tends to disappear, where its food disappears. The latter consists
only in part of invertebrates (mussels for instance), while in another
part it is vegetable (roots of aquatic plants, and also various parts
of land plants). Thus it is understood that the pollution of a
stream does not render the existence of muskrats impossible. And
further, the bad condition of the water does not harm the animal
directly, since it is an air-breathing form. The fact that the musk-
rat is decidedly less frequent in polluted streams is probably due to
the fact that the pollution is greatest in the vicinity of larger settle-
ments, where there is greater danger for them by being hunted
by man.
Of the reptiles, water-snakes (Natrix sipedon and leberis) and
turtles should be considered. As regards the former, it is a general
rule that they disappear from polluted streams, and very likely not
on account of the direct influence of the water upon their body, but
on account of the destruction of their food—fish and crawfish.
The turtles live in part upon animal, in part upon vegetable food;
they are found, at present, in numbers only in streams which are in
good condition, and have disappeared, more or less, in those with
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 93
polluted waters; this, however, at least in certain species, is appar-
ently due also to direct extermination by man. The soft shell
turtle (Aspidonectes spinifer) is a good example; it used to be
present almost everywhere, but it has been exterminated practically
in the Ohio, the lower Allegheny, the Monongahela and Youghio-
gheny. It is still present, for instance, in the clear waters of the
upper Youghiogheny, the upper Allegheny, in Lake Erie, ete.
Among the amphibians, frogs and toads do not prefer the
streams ; they rather are pond and lake forms, and, besides, inhabit
the water only at certain seasons. They do not seem to be very
susceptible to the quality of the water, since they are air-breathing
animals, and, consequently, are still abundant, although certain spe-
cies show a tendency to become rare. Thus the bullfrog is met
with in numbers only in the northwest of the state, where clear
streams, ponds and lakes prevail. Yet in this case, extermination
by man has surely played a part.
Of the Urodela, the smaller salamanders and newts do not in-
habit in large numbers the rivers and creeks, but prefer rather the
mountain streams, the ponds and lakes, where generally the condi-
tions are yet good. ‘Thus there does not seem to be an appreciable
reduction of their number. The two large salamanders, the hell-
bender (Cryptobranchus allegheniensis) and mud puppy (Necturus
maculosus) surely are influenced by the pollution, yet not directly,
but by the destruction of their food. They seem to be the last mem-
bers of the fresh-water fauna which disappear, and are occasionally
found where there is no other permanent life. (Hellbenders were
frequent in the Conemaugh River at New Florence, Westmoreland
Co. Nothing but a few fish and crawfish were at this locality, which
apparently came from a clear tributary.)
The most important forms of invertebrates, which I have studied
more closely, are the crustaceans and the mollusks. Occasionally I
have collected fresh-water sponges, worms, bryozoans, but of all
these we may say that they disappear very soon after the stream
has become polluted. They are found only in such waters which
contain an abundance of other life.
The crustaceans of the genus Cambarus (crawfishes) are rather
susceptible, and we may say that generally the pollution of a stream
94 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
destroys them. They seem to be slightly more resistant than the
Unionide (see below), but their presence in a polluted stream is
in many cases clearly due to a restocking of the stream, by immigra-
tion from a clear tributary. The crawfishes are rather vagile, and
possess the power to migrate, although less so than the fishes. There
surely is the possibility for them to take advantage of a temporary
improvement of the condition of a stream.
The most important group, with reference to the matter in ques-
tion, are the bivalve mollusks of the family Unionide, the fresh-
water mussels or river-clams. They are the most reliable indicators
of the pollution of a stream. Being rather sedentary, living on the
bottom of the rivers, breathing water, they are easily influenced by
the deterioration of the water. Of all the more important groups
of our fresh-water fauna, they die first, and after they have been
exterminated, it is exceedingly difficult to restock the stream on
account of the complex life history of the young mussels. It is
known that the young Unionidz are transported and dispersed by
fishes, but in a polluted stream the fishes have also disappeared, and
even in a case of a temporary recovery of a stream, in times of a
high stage of the water, if there should be a restocking with young
mussel-fry, the latter will surely be killed during the next low stage,
when the pollution again is concentrated. In this respect the Union-
ide surely are worse off than the fishes and crawfishes.
Of other mollusks, the gasteropods belonging to the family Pleu-
roceride (Pleurocera, Goniobasis, Anculosa) should be mentioned.
They are generally absent in polluted rivers, but have been found
surviving, together with crawfishes, in parts where Unionide were
entirely, and the fishes for the greater part gone (Allegheny River
in southern Venango County). Other mollusks, which are air
breathing (genera Lymnea, Planorbis, Physa) are more resistant,
and this is especially true of Physa, which represents in certain
instances the only remaining life in certain rivers. But there also
seems to be a limit to its power of endurance, and in very badly pol-
luted streams also Physa is absent.
Thus we can establish, in a rough way, a certain succession for
the disappearance of our fauna.
The first sign of pollution of a dangerous character in a stream
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 95
is given by the disappearance of the Unionidz, and, generally, this
fauna is irreparably lost. Close upon this follows the disappear-
ance of the fishes, yet in times of recovery of the rivers (at high-
water stages), fishes reappear, coming from tributaries, etc., which
have acted as preserves, and this may go on indefinitely as long as
the river is recovering again at times, since the fishes possess a high
power of locomotion (as we shall see below, the construction of
dams in a river puts an end also to this). Crawfishes stand it a
‘little longer than fishes, but they also disappear finally, and the tem-
porary restocking of a stream takes place only in a limited degree.*
With the crawfishes, or soon after them, the Gasteropods of the
family Pleurocerid@ are driven out. When the process has reached
this stage, the higher forms of life, which subsist on these various
forms are compelled to abandon the stream: tailed Batrachians,
Snakes, and part of the Turtles. Finally, only Lymnea, Planorbis
and Physa, and the muskrat survive. Of these, Physa disappears
last, while the muskrat may stay indefinitely, being not entirely
dependent upon animal or aquatic food.
II. Tue CAUSES OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FAUNA.
A. Direct Extermination by Man.
A number of fresh-water animals are directly killed by man, and
thus disappear in streams, the character of which has not been
changed unfavorably for life. This is true in the first line for the
fishes. Fishes, forming part of human food, are sought for every-
where, and in consequence of the increase of the population neces-
sarily must be decimated in number. Yet a complete destruction
of the fish life hardly has ever been brought about by man alone,
chiefly so, if the fishing is carried on under the restrictions put upon
it by law. The fact is that there are many places where “ fishing is
good,” and where fishermen freely avail themselves of this chance,
but where fishes are still abundant (upper Allegheny River, for
‘It happens sometimes that restocking of the lost territory is done by
a different species. Thus in the Mahoning Creek at Punxsutawney, Jefferson
Co., and in Slipperyrock Creek at Branchton, Butler Co., the original species,
which was destroyed, was Cambarus obscurus, and subsequently, C. bartoni
entered the creek.
PROC. AMER, PHIL. SOC, XLVIII. I9I G, PRINTED JULY 6, 1909.
96 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
instance). This is not so in certain remote streams, but not on
account of the legitimate pursuit of the sport, but in consequence
of the illegal destruction of the fishes. The worst is the dynamiting
of the streams which, of course, can be carried out safely only in
such places where the fish warden is likely not watching. I can
name at least one stream, in which this has had serious conse-
quences: Raccoon Creek in Beaver County, and here it is done, as
I have been informed, by parties that come over the state line from
West Virginia and Ohio, and that have no right whatever to fish in
our waters. The fish warden cannot be on the spot all the time,
and the farmers of the region are powerless to stop the abuse, and
thus Raccoon Creek, which is physically in good condition, and
which used to teem with fish life, has been spoiled. For the dyna-
miting kills all fishes, old and young indiscriminately, and must be
regarded as the most contemptuous way of wanton destruction.
I do not doubt that it is resorted to in other parts (I heard of
one case in Deer Creek, Allegheny County, not far from Pittsburgh),
yet, of course, since it is executed by the guilty parties only under
rigorous precautions, in order that they may not be caught by the
authorities, such cases generally escape detection.
There is only one other group of fresh-water animals which is
of direct value to man (if we disregard the muskrat, which is hunted
for its pelt, and some turtles, which are eaten). These are the
fresh-water mussels (Unionide). For food they are not much
sought, but the occasional occurrence of pearls in them makes them
valuable. In Pennsylvania pearl fishing is not much practiced, yet
I know that certain individuals hunt for pearls in mussels along the
Allegheny River in Armstrong County, and once I came across a
party of three, hunting pearls in the Ohio in Beaver County. These
people were from somewhere down the Ohio in the state of Ohio or
West Virginia, and it was indeed a sight to look upon the wholesale
destruction carried on by them.
In general we may say that by the direct action of man our
fresh-water fauna, chiefly that of the fishes, has suffered a good
deal, but the complete extermination has not been brought about by
it in any stream. Fishing might go on in the usual way, under the
established legal restrictions, and our fish fauna will survive indefi-
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 97
nitely. If we further consider the fact that the state is trying to
restock our streams artificially, this might entirely counterbalance
the losses caused by the fisherman, and thus we may say that fishing
alone would never destroy our fish fauna.
B. Pollution of Streams.
The worst damage to our fauna is done by the pollution of the
streams, that is to say, by the discharge into them of substances
which are directly injurious to life. This is connected directly with
our commercial and industrial progress, and the damage done by it
is irreparable, unless there is some radical change in the way of the
disposal of the industrial refuse, which at present is generally
allowed to run directly into the nearest stream.
The most widely distributed pollution of a stream is by sewage
from the larger towns and cities. This in itself is rather innocent.
I am not discussing the deterioration of the waters from a sanitary
standpoint ; but with regard to animal life in our rivers, sewage does
not seem to be harmful; on the contrary, certain forms (fishes, craw-
fishes, mussels) seem to thrive on it. Only in a few cases I have
seen sewage so concentrated (certain small runs in the city of Pitts-
burgh), that animal life is killed.
Much more dangerous sources of pollution are given by our coal
mines. Under this head I unite all sources of pollution, which are
connected with the mining of coal, with the coking process, and with
the steel industry. This kind of pollution is very widely distributed
in the western part of the state. It is a process which charges the
water of our streams with certain acids, which, when they reach a
certain degree of concentration, directly kill the life.* A stream
polluted by “mine water” is easily recognized (when clear) by the
peculiar bluish-green color of the water, and by a peculiar rusty-red
deposit upon its bottom.
Another source of pollution is furnished by the oil wells and the
oil industries. The simple working of an oil well already yields
injurious matter: during the drilling of the well invariably salt
water is pumped up, and the oil itself is capable of destroying life,
if present in excess, and forming, at low stages, a deposit upon the
*See Stabler H., Water Supply and Irrigation Paper no. 186, 1906, p. 5.
98 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
bottom of a creek. But the worst are the oil refineries, which dis-
charge into the water chemicals which are utterly destructive to life.
These are the two most important sources of the pollution of our
streams: coal and oil. In addition, there are others, which are more
or less local, yet may become quite important in certain sections.
These are various industrial establishments, such as glass factories,
china factories, different kinds of chemical factories, wood-pulp
mills,? saw mills, tanneries, etc. There are certain sections of the
state, for instance the region of the headwaters of the Allegheny
and of Clarion River, where establishments of this kind are the
chief source of contamination.
It is not my intention here to treat of the chemical side of the
process, because it is rather complex, and needs careful investiga-
tion by experts. This investigation is rendered more difficult, since
in most of our streams it is not one cause, which contributes to the
pollution, but several, often all of them, which contribute their share
in a particular stream.
Finally, a last cause of destruction of life should be mentioned,
which, however, is not connected with a deterioration of the quality
of the water. This is the damming up of certain rivers. This has
been done most extensively in the Monongahela River, and in a
part of the Ohio below Pittsburgh. The dams and locks have been
built for the advantage of the shipping interests, producing a more
uniform level of the water, permitting navigation all the year round.
By this process the rivers, which originally possessed a lively cur-
rent, with riffles, islands, etc., have been transformed into a series
of pools of quiet, stagnant water, and this change has driven out
certain forms of life. It is most destructive to mussels, most of
which require a lively current. Dams also prevent free migration,
for instance of fishes, and thus they must be an obstacle to the nat-
ural restocking of the rivers in periods of high water.
® See Phelps, E. B., Water Supply and Irrigation Paper no. 226. 1909.
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 99
III. SKETCH OF THE PRESENT CONDITION OF OuR RIVERS.
(See map, plate VI.)
1. The Ohio River Below Pittsburgh.
At Pittsburgh, the two main rivers, Allegheny and Monongahela,
unite to form the Ohio. As we shall see below, both the Allegheny
and Monongahela are as badly polluted as they possibly could be, and,
consequently, it is not astonishing that the Ohio immediately below
Pittsburgh is also in a deplorable condition. In addition, it is
“ec
dammed up, this “improvement” extending down to dam No. 6
at Vanport (below Beaver) in Beaver County. Generally, there is
not much life in this part of the Ohio. Fishes are found occasion-
ally, during high water, due to some migration, probably from
farther down the river, but even this has been rendered difficult or
even impossible in consequence of the perfection of the dams (dam
No. 6 was finished and put in operation toward the end of 1907).
There are crawfishes in this part of the river, but they are disap-
pearing fast. Unionidze have disappeared long ago. There was a
colony of them in the left branch of the Ohio at Neville Island,
Allegheny County, up to 1904; during that year, however, they died
out, and in 1905 the last living one was found there.
Farther down, below dam No. 6, conditions improve. This is a
very interesting and important fact. Although the Ohio collects
most of the polluted water of the western section of the state, and
although it is in a very bad condition below Pittsburgh, it loses its
bad qualities, at least in part, about thirty miles farther down.
Since there are only two important tributaries along this part of its
course, Chartiers Creek and Beaver River, both of them also badly
polluted, this improvement of the water cannot be due to dilution
alone, but it is evident that some of the injurious substances in the
water must be removed from it, and very probably by precipitation
upon the bottom of the river. We shall observe indications of this
process elsewhere, and shall discuss its significance below. Here it
is sufficient to point out, that at present (1908) the condition of the
Ohio below dam No. 6 is good or fair, life being not only possible,
but abundant in it, all the way down to the state line at Smith’s
100 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
Ferry. This is shown first of all by the abundance of Unionide
in this part of the Ohio; in fact, here are found the most favorable
localities for them known to me in western Pennsylvania. It seems
that in 1907 these conditions extended a certain distance farther up;
at any rate, in that year I found evidence of the presence of Union-
idz in the Ohio at Beaver (the stage of the water was not low
enough for proper investigation). But since the completion of dam
No. 6 this is all over now, and if there should be life in the pool
above dam No. 6 it will have disappeared by this time, at least
most of it.
Moreover, there are indications that the fauna in the Ohio below
Vanport is already suffering. There are at least two tremendous
banks, consisting chiefly of dead shells (with many living ones
among them) in the river, one at Industry, the other at Shipping-
port. Since dead shells are dissolved rather rapidly, these masses
indicate a recent dying of mussels on a large scale. And further,
it is very remarkable that among the living shells collected by myself
there are hardly any young individuals. It seems to me that, while
the old and tough ones (some of them probably_ten years old and
older) are able to stand the poor condition of the water, the latter
is too much for young and delicate ones, so that there is no new
generation growing up. This, of course, would be the first step
toward the final destruction of the mussels in this part of the river,
and the destruction of the other forms of life then will also be
accomplished in due time.
2. The Smaller Tributaries of the Ohio.
There is a group of streams in Greene and Washington Counties,
running westward through the panhandle of West Virginia into the
Ohio. These are (from south to north): Pennsylvania Fork of
Fish Creek, Wheeling Creek, Buffalo Creek, Cross Creek, Harmons
Creek. They are all clear creeks, only Harmons Creek and Cross
Creek are slightly polluted by mine water, but not much damage has
been done yet. They are all rich in aquatic life. I have not visited
Wheeling Creek in Pennsylvania, but I know it in West Virginia,
above Elm Grove, near Wheeling, where it is in good condition.
Raccoon Creek, which empties from the south into the Ohio
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 101
below Vanport, is in very good condition for most of its length,
only way up at its sources, in Washington County, it is slightly
polluted by mine water. This creek used to be rich in all forms of
life, and is yet so here and there, but, as has been said, its fish fauna
has greatly suffered in consequence of illegal fishing.
At the point where the Ohio leaves the state a very beautiful
tributary flows into it from the north—Little Beaver Creek. This
was, and partly is, a model stream with regard to all forms of fresh-
water life. Yet in 1908 there were, in its upper parts, near New
Galilee, in Beaver County, signs of pollution, in this case in conse-
quence of new oil wells being drilled in the vicinity. Salt water
and oil was discharged into the creek, and the fauna (chiefly the
mussels) indicated distinctly the deteriorating effect by their dis-
eased condition and by the frequency of shells which had died
recently. This may be only a temporary effect, and if there is no
additional pollution, conditions may remain favorable.
Immediately below Pittsburgh, Chartiers Creek, coming from
the south, empties into the Ohio. It is hopelessly polluted by the
coal mines and oil refineries in Allegheny and Washington Counties.
There is no life whatever in this creek: the last traces are known to
have existed in it as late as 1900, when a few Unionide were col-
lected in it for the Carnegie Museum. The condition of Chartiers
Creek is now beyond repair.
3. The Beaver River Drainage.
Beaver River flows into the Ohio from the north at Beaver,
Beaver County. It is utterly polluted in its whole length, up to
the point where it is formed by the confluence of Mahoning and
Shenango rivers. The source of the pollution is situated on the
Shenango River, along its last two miles, in and below Newcas-
tle, Lawrence County. The steel mills and various other establish-
ments furnish a tremendous amount of injurious refuse draining
into the river, and rendering it entirely unfit for life. This state
of affairs has been brought about during the last ten years, for in
1898 the fauna of the river was very rich at Wampum, Lawrence
County, as is shown by collections preserved in the Carnegie
Museum.
102 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
Connoquennessing Creek, flowing into the Beaver from the east,
is another badly polluted stream. In this case there are various
causes of pollution, but the chief one is the refuse from the glass
works at Butler, Butler County. In the lower parts of Connoquen-
nessing Creek traces of life are yet present, but in a few years every-
thing will be gone. Above Butler, the creek is in a fair condition.
Of its tributaries, Glade Run is polluted by oil well products. Brush
Creek is good, and also Slipperyrock Creek in its lower course.
The latter is an example of the natural clearing of the water, for in
its upper parts, in northern Butler County, it is in a very bad con-
dition, polluted by mine water. In this case dilution of the pollution
apparently plays an important part, for at least two of its tributaries,
Wolf and Muddy Creeks, are in good condition. In Wolf Creek the
effect of plain sewage is distinctly seen by the fact that the fish- and
mussel-fauna are favored by it—the Unionide attain an unusual size
just below the point where the sewage from Grove City, Mercer
County, goes into the creek.
Of the two rivers which form the Beaver, Mahoning River is,
as has been shown by Leighton,* badly polluted in the state of Ohio
at Alliance, Warren, Niles and Youngstown. Yet in Pennsylvania,
in its lower parts, it is rich in life. We again have to deal here with
the natural clearing process of the water. At Hillsville, where the
Mahoning enters our state, it is in poor condition, yet there is some
life. Then comes a dam at Edinburg, and below this dam condi-
tions are much better. In fact, the fauna is rich, and continues so
till the river joins the Shenango. In this case, there are no impor-
tant tributaries along this stretch, and the clearing of the water
cannot very well be attributed to dilution.
The Shenango River above Newcastle is in good condition all
the way up to its sources, and so are its tributaries, Neshannock
Creek, Pymatuning Creek and Little Shenango River. Only at and
below Sharon and Sharpsville, in Mercer County, some pollution
goes into the Shenango from the steel mills, but it has not had much
effect yet. However, the damage is bound to increase, and I am
afraid in a few years the effect will be noticeable. At the present
*See Leighton, M. O., U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply and Irrigation
Paper no. 79; 1003, p. 133.
1909.] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 103
time these creeks are in splendid condition at many points, and this
is preéminently the case, as regards the fish fauna, in Neshannock
Creek.
4. The Monongahela Drainage.
We may say that of the Monongahela drainage by far the great-
est part is utterly polluted, chiefly by mine water.2 The Monon-
gahela and its chief tributary, the Youghiogheny, drain the most
important coal regions of the state, and there are, in this whole
region, only a few streams left which have clear water. They are
the following: Ten Mile Creek and Dunkard Creek in Washington
and Greene Counties, yet the South Branch of Ten Mile Creek
became polluted in the spring of 1908 by the bursting of an oil pipe-
line near Waynesburg, Greene County. Dunkard Creek is yet
splendid in every respect. Cheat River is clear, but there are only
two or three miles of it in the state, and on its right banks, at Cheat
Haven, a small run empties into it, which brings a great amount of
mine water from the coke-ovens at Atchinson, killing everything
along its right banks.®
The Youghiogheny is in a fair condition above Connelsville,
Fayette County, and Indian Creek, one of its tributaries, is very
good (trout stream). However, the Youghiogheny has improved
from Confluence down. For at this place it receives a badly pol-
luted tributary, Casselman River, which brings mine water from the
mines in southern Somerset County. The Youghiogheny above Con-
fluence, south into Maryland, is very clear and pure.
For the rest, all the more important creeks tributary to the
Monongahela system, in Washington, Fayette and Westmoreland
Counties, are polluted by mine water. This is especially true in the
cases of George and Redstone Creeks, draining the Uniontown dis-
trict, Jacobs Creek, coming from the Mount Pleasant and Scottdale
mines, and, worst of all, Turtle Creek, with its tributary, Brush
Creek, which drain the coal fields of Westmoreland County.
* Leighton, ibid., p. 126 ff. This condition obtained already in 1808, see
Rhoads, S. N., in Nautilus, 12, 1899, p. 133.
°*The condition of the Cheat below Parsons, Tucker Co., W. Va., is
dreadful, it being polluted by the refuse from a wood pulp mill. But it
improves farther down.
104 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
5. The Allegheny Drainage.
(a) The lower Allegheny, from Oil City and Franklin (Venango
County) downward, is first badly polluted, then it improves, and is
again polluted to a very considerable degree. The chief source of
pollution are the oil refineries at Oil Cityand Franklin. The injurious
substances discharged into the river at these two places are simply
amazing, and render the river entirely unfit for life; for thirty miles
and more below there is not a mussel, not a crawfish, nor a fish able
to live in this water. Then a gradual improvement begins in south-
ern Venango County (pond snails, Physa and Goniobasis are pres-
ent, also crawfishes begin to appear), and in northern Armstrong
County conditions become almost normal. In spite of some addi-
tional pollution going into the river at Kittanning and Ford City
(china factories), the good condition continues down to the point
where the Kiskiminetas River discharges its mine water into the
Allegheny from the left side. This destroys life on the left banks
of the Allegheny, but conditions continue favorable on the right
banks into Allegheny County, till we reach Natrona and Tarentum.
Here additional pollution comes in in the shape of salt water (salt
works at Natrona) and the refuse of various mills, and this goes
on all along the river down to where it unites with the Monongahela
at Pittsburgh. Here the Allegheny is utterly polluted, and we have
here possibly the greatest variety of pollution of any of the streams
in the state.’
(b) The Smaller Tributaries of the Lower Allegheny River.—
Of the following smaller tributaries of the lower Allegheny, the
condition is known to the writer. On the right side, Pine Creek,
in Allegheny County, is polluted more or less, chiefly by oil wells,
but its headwaters are in a fair condition. Deer Creek and Bull
Creek are rather good. Buffalo Creek, running along the boundary
line of Butler and Armstrong Counties, is in very good condition,
and contains an abundance of life. On the left side is Puketta
Creek, forming the boundary of Allegheny and Westmoreland
Counties, which also is in rather good condition.
(c) The Kiskiminetas Drainage.—As has been stated above, the
*See Leighton, M. O., I. c., p. 122.
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 105
Kiskiminetas River, at its point of union with the Allegheny, is in
a fearful condition, the pollution consisting chiefly of mine water
from the extensive coal regions of Westmoreland, Indiana, Cambria
and Somerset Counties. In fact, we may say, that in almost all of
the drainage basin of the Kiskiminetas fresh-water life is extinct.®
For the main stream, the Kiskiminetas-Conemaugh, this is true for
its whole length, from above Johnstown in Cambria County down-
ward. The Loyalhanna River from Latrobe downward is even
worse than the Conemaugh. Black Lick Creek and its tributaries,
Two Lick and Yellow Creeks, in Indiana County, are also polluted,
and so is Stony Creek in Somerset County. There are, in the whole
Kiskiminetas drainage, only very few streams possessing clear
water and a tolerably well preserved fauna. In Westmoreland
County we have a small stream, Beaver Run, which is good, and the
Loyalhanna River above Latrobe contains a rich fauna. In Indiana
County Blacklegs Run and the upper parts of Two Lick and Yellow
Creeks are in good condition; in the lower part of Yellow Creek the
fauna was destroyed during 1908. A mine had been opened in 1907
above Homer City, and the mine water discharged into the creek
did its deadly work in the summer of 1908, when the stage of the
water for the first time after the opening of the mine became so
low that the concentration of the pollution was great enough to kill
the fauna. On July 23, 1908, the writer personally witnessed the
actual destruction of the fauna, and the number of dead and dying
fishes seen in Yellow Creek at Homer City was perfectly appalling.
Clear tributaries of the Conemaugh are found in the valley
between Chestnut Ridge and Laurel Hill: Tub Mill Run, for in-
stance, near New Florence, is very good (trout stream). As has
been said, Stony Creek, in Somerset County, is polluted. Of its
tributaries, at least one is in good condition: Quemahoning Creek;
others have not been investigated, but probably there are more clear
streams, chiefly among the headwaters coming down from Laurel
Hill and Allegheny Front.
(d) The Great Eastern Tributaries of the Allegheny.—There are
* This is very deplorable in view of the fact that for several fresh species,
described by Professor. Cope, the Kiskiminetas is the type-locality. No
topotypes can be secured any more.
106 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
a number of important tributaries, running about parallel to each
other from the east to the west into the Allegheny. These are
(from south to north): Crooked Creek, Mahoning Creek,®? Red
Bank-Sandy Lick Creek and Clarion River. Crooked Creek is
good, indeed, one of the best creeks in the state, yet in the region
of its headwaters pollution begins. Near Creekside, Indiana County,
new mines have been opened during the last years, and a small
tributary discharges here a considerable amount of mine water into
Crooked Creek, killing the fauna for several miles. Of course this
is bound to become worse in the future. Mahoning Creek is utterly
polluted, the pollution beginning in the region of Punxsutawney in
Jefferson County, and consisting chiefly of mine water. Yet a tribu-
tary, Little Mahoning Creek in northern Indiana County, has clear
water, and correspondingly a rich fauna. Red Bank-Sandy Lick
Creek also is polluted, chiefly by mine water, which reaches it from
the numerous mines existing in its drainage basin. Clarion River
possibly is one of the worst streams in the state. In the region of
its headwaters, in Elk County, it is not mine water, but the refuse
of various establishments, such as wood-pulp mills, tanneries, chem-
ical factories (Elk Creek), which renders the water unfit for life,
and finally Toby Creek, emptying into it in the southwestern portion,
of Elk County, adds its share in the form of mine water. The
water of Clarion River, in this region, is black like ink, and retains
its peculiar color all the way down to where it empties into the
Allegheny (at Foxburg) ; here the deep blackish brown color of the
Clarion River water contrasts sharply with the bluish green water
of the Allegheny River.
(e) French Creek Drainage.—In contrast to most of the streams
mentioned so far, French Creek and its tributaries are generally
clear and possess a wonderfully rich fauna. In fact, this region is
one of the best collecting grounds for all forms of fresh-water life.
French Creek is fed by several streams draining some of our glacial
lakes—Conneaut Lake in Crawford County, and Conneauttee Lake
and Lake Lebeuf in Erie County. Also these have clear water and
a rich fauna.
(f) The Upper Allegheny.—Above Oil City, Venango County,
® Not to be confounded with Mahoning River in Lawrence County.
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 107
the Allegheny itself is clear, and also forms a fine collecting ground
for the zoologist. This is especially true for the fish fauna and the
fauna of fresh-water mollusks. This good condition continues up
to the New York state line in Warren County. Of the tributaries,
Oil Creek is badly polluted at Oil City, where it falls into the Alle-
gheny, but it is pure at its headwaters. The intermediate parts have
not been studied by the writer, so that he cannot name the exact
spot where the pollution begins. It is due chiefly to oil refineries.
Tionesta Creek, in Forest County, is polluted by chemical refuse, at
least where it enters the Allegheny; the upper parts have not been
investigated. Brokenstraw Creek, in Warren County, is ina fair con-
dition, but it belongs to the class of streams which improve during
their course: its headwaters are polluted by refuse from tanneries at
Cory in Erie County. Connewango Creek, in Warren County, which
brings the outflow of Chautauqua Lake in New York, is good. The
headwaters of the Allegheny in McKean and Potter Counties are
generally good, but there are some tributaries which are polluted, for
instance, Potato Creek, in McKean County (polluted by chemical
factories). Where Potato Creek falls into the Allegheny it is in a
very bad condition, but its size is not sufficient to influence the
Allegheny noticeably.
6. The Lake Erie Drainage.
Of course Lake Erie itself is clear, and contains a rich fauna.?°
In our state there are rather insignificant streams draining into the
lake, and they all have pure water, and, as far as they have been
examined, a well-preserved fauna. The largest is Conneaut Creek,
in Crawford and Erie Counties, which has been investigated at sev-
eral places by the writer, and found to be in good condition. The
only other streams known to the writer are Elk and Walnut Creeks,
in Erie County, which are also good.
7. The Potomac and Susquehanna Drainages.
Only the headwaters of these streams or their tributaries are
situated in western Pennsylvania, and the investigations of the
writer are not very extensive in this region.
* Our knowledge of the Lake Erie fauna is deplorably poor, chiefly so
with reference to the Pennsylvania shores.
108 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
Wills Creek, in southern Bedford County, flowing to the Potomac
is clear, but it becomes polluted by mine water farther down, at Mt.
Savage Junction in Maryland." Several of the headwaters of the
Jumata River, in Blair County, chiefly in the region of Altoona and
Tyrone, are polluted by industrial establishments.1? The headwaters
of the West Branch of the Susquehanna and Clearfield Creek, in
Cambria and Clearfield Counties, are generally polluted by mine
water,* but there are some clear tributaries. A rather good one is
Cush-Cushion Creek, in Indiana County. The latter fact is very
important, for it is the point of the Susquehanna system which is
most advanced in a westerly direction, and marks the most western
extension of the Atlantic fresh-water fauna in our state, and it may
be said here that Cush-Cushion Creek indeed contains a pure At-
lantic fauna, which is in sharp contrast to the western fauna present
in some of the tributaries of the Allegheny in the same (Indiana)
county, Little Mahoning, Crooked, Two Lick and Yellow Creeks.
CONCLUSIONS.
The sketch given above of the present condition of our streams
and their fauna is sufficient to give an idea of the tremendous damage
done in recent times to our fresh-water fauna. Considering the
fact that most of this destruction has been accomplished during the
last twenty years; that it is going on continually, and that every year
new stretches of the rivers, new creeks are added to the list of the
polluted waters, conditions are indeed alarming. I think a glance
upon the map accompanying ,this paper will tell more than any
words possibly could.
It is not for the writer to suggest remedies, yet two conclusions
are forced upon him. The first is, that with regard to the improve-
ment of the fish-fauna, which is attempted by the State Fish Commis-
See Parker, H. N., Water Supply and Irrigation Paper no. 192, 1907,
210:
: The quality of the water was poor already in 1904, see Leighton, M. O.,
in Water Supply and Irrigation Paper no. 108, 1904, p. 65.
* Leighton (ibid., pp. 56 and 57) gives in 1904 a rather favorable report
on the quality of the headwaters of the West Branch of the Susquehanna
(chiefly with regard to drinking purposes). Apparently this has changed
to the worse during the last four years.
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 109
sion by way of restocking our rivers with game and food fishes, this
is a useless undertaking in all those streams which are polluted.
Any fishes set free in such waters will not live, or will not stay
there, if they can. The other suggestion is furnished by the fact,
repeatedly mentioned above, that a river, badly polluted at a certain
point, improves in its further course, provided no additional pollu-
tion in great quantities is reaching it. This is seen first of all in
the Ohio itself in Beaver County, and further in the Allegheny in
Armstrong County. Additional examples are Slipperyrock Creek,
Mahoning River (Lawrence County), Raccoon Creek, Brokenstraw
Creek, Cheat River. This improvement of the waters, of course, is
partly due to the dilution of the injurious substances by the addition
of clear water from tributaries. But it seems as if this is not the
only source of the improvement. In the case of the Allegheny in
Armstrong County, the main tributaries (Clarion, Red Bank, Ma-
honing) themselves are polluted, and the other tributaries are very
insignificant in comparison with the size of the Allegheny. This is
also seen in the Mahoning River in Lawrence County, which hardly
has any tributaries along its course, where the improvement takes
place. I think the precipitation of the injurious substances to the
bottom plays an important part here. We always have, in polluted
streams, some sort of precipitate upon the bottom, most noticeable
in streams charged with mine water, where it consists of sulphate
of iron,!® and, consequently, the injurious element must be elimi-
nated, at least to some degree, from the water. This observation
suggests a natural remedy—if we could prevent the water charged
with polluting substances from reaching our streams directly, that
is to say, if we could arrange it that this water is kept in basins or
reservoirs for some time, till it has gone through this natural clearing
process, and if we allowed only the overflow of these clearing basins
to reach our rivers, that is to say, the most superficial strata, which
contain the smallest amount of polluting substances,*® I think this
™See Stabler, Water Supply and Irrigation Paper no. 186, 1906, p. 28.
* See Leighton, I. c., p. 24.
7 Of course, the oil from the oil wells floats on the surface, but this
floating oil does not do much damage. It is well known that before the
discovery of oil in these parts, the Allegheny was famous for the oil floating
upon its surface.
110 DESTRUCTION OF FRESH-WATER FAUNA. [April 23,
would improve conditions considerably. The presence of dams in
our rivers or creeks furnishes, to a certain degree, the conditions
required for such clearing basins, and we have observed instances
(Mahoning River at Edinburg, Lawrence County), where such a
dam actually improves the river to a considerable degree. This is
also the case, although not so strikingly, with dam No. 6 in the Ohio
River. But the trouble is these dams improve the water after much
damage has been done already, and are injurious in other respects
(see above).
This much, however, should be clear—unless we improve the
quality of the water of our rivers, it is impossible to bring back the
original condition of their fauna, and attempts to restore our nat-
ural resources with regard to the fish fauna, by restocking our pol-
luted streams with fish, will be labor and money thrown away.
CARNEGIE MusEUM,
PITTSBURGH, Pa.
PROCEEDINGS AM. PHILOS. Soc. VoL. XLVIII. No. 191 PLaTe VI
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
a= watersin good condition
~—~—~—_ waters unfit for life
Scales }—*—+—_5—_ 5 4s Miles
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showing:
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Rai,
ON CERTAIN GENERALIZATIONS OF THE PROBLEM
OPFTHREB? SODIES.
By EDGAR ODELL LOVETT,
Tue Rice Institute, Houston, TEXAS.
(Read April 23, 1909.)
The object of the following note is fourfold: first, to determine
all the problems of three bodies in which the bodies describe conic
sections, under central conservative forces, whatever be the initial
conditions of the motion; second, to specialize the preceding solu-
tions, so as to single out those in which the force-function contains
only the masses of the bodies and their mutual distances; third,
to generalize the latter group to the case in which the orbits are
the most arbitrary possible; fourth to generalize the last to the
case in which the functions defining the orbits appear in the poten-
tial function.
1. If three given particles (7,,0,;7%,), (12923 M2), (1, 933 Ms)
describe, under central censervative forces, three given coplanar
curves whose equations in polar codrdinates referred to the center
of gravity of the system are
(1) fitte 6, )=0, fale, 6,)—=0, Tel tes 6; )==0,
the forces are derived from a potential function which may be
written in the form*
om rete
*Onemploying the usual substitutions the form given follows immediately
from Oppenheim’s solution in rectangular coordinates. See his memoir in
the third volume of the Publications of the von Kuffner Observatory.
tet
PROC, AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. 191 H, PRINTED JULY 6, 1909.
112 LOVETT—PROBLEM OF THREE BODIES. [April 23,
where c is the constant in the integral of areas, that is,
3
0,
(3) == DUE E.
4=1
In case the orbits are described independently of the initial condi-
tions, Oppenheim has remarked that it must be possible to throw the
function P into the form
(4) P=P,+h,
where h is a constant independent of the parameters which enter
P,; if such a decomposition of P is impossible, the motion takes
place only for special values of the initial constants.
When the orbits are conic sections the equations (1) become
(5) fi(ri, 0: )=77i (Ai cos? 6; + 2H; sin 0; cos 6;
+B; sin? 6;)+ 2ri (Gs cos 6; + F,; sin 6; )— C; =O, (i Is 2 3.)
If the corresponding functions
Che Wilop ener.
By) Gn web,
are constructed, and substituted in the form (2) the latter becomes
3
> m,{(H? = A Br? + 2 [(Z,F, va B,G;) oo 0;
i=1
+(4,C,—4,F) sin 04-774 G?+(4,+ 8) Ci} ‘
3 2 ’
> .[(G, cos 0, + F;sin 6,)r,— C]
Gail
(6) Om
this is the most general form of potential function giving rise to
conic section trajectories in the problem of three bodies under central
conservative forces.
2. From the relations
(7) mimypig? =i (mm + m;)r? + mm + m;) ri? — men,
ijk == 122, 231, aoe
where pi; is the distance between the bodies (7i, 6:3; mi) and
(rj, 0;; m;), it follows that if Q is to be a function of the masses
and mutual distances alone we must have
(8) Po —=1G, == 0; (== 2a
1909.] LOVETT—PROBLEM OF THREE BODIES. 113
If in addition we have
H? — AB, = H? — A,B, = Hj — A,B, = some constant,
(9) ee abs De ne ls
the function Q may be written
| mA, + BC,
(10) Q= bmg} +e > s y= O+h.
mC}
Finally, no noting that the equations (7) lead to the relation
3 3
2 2 2 2
(11) 3 m,) ye MS; = M,N pio + MINP,, + MMP, ,
t=1 i—)
we have Q, in the well-known form
(12) Q=
2 2 2
(172,11 ,Pio + ,)1Po,° + 2,1,P,, ),
Mt.
4
i=1
which is thus made to appear as the unique case of conic section
orbits for all initial conditions under forces varying as the masses
and a function of the mutual distances.
It may be observed here parenthetically that if a similar study
be made for the cubic a first condition will be found to demand that
the orbits be defined by equations of the form
(13) avi? + 3014.7; — 3a:419.? — Diy —C,=0, (1=1, 2,3);
the remaining analysis of the problem offers no difficulty.
3. Writing
af, af
(14) ae aL
the function (2) becomes
9 EE mete) /|Eecal"
114 LOVETT—PROBLEM OF THREE BODIES. [April 23,
considering the case in which
Dm, ( U2 + =) > m(7r;)
(16) Se
we find immediately that
$;
(17) iar a
and on subjecting these values of u; and v; to the condition of in-
tegrability we have the following relations
(18) ri? — i? = Some constant, say Ay7, (1=—1, 2,3),
connecting the functions ¢; and y;. The construction of the func-
tions defined by the equations (17) and (18) is effected directly by
a simple integration which yields the result that under forces derived
from the potential function
ty ete (ee
a
three arbitrary masses m; describe the respective orbits
A 7. :
(20) [eee = +20. + pf, C=)i eta)
where the function y; is absolutely arbitrary, and the quantities Aj, pi
are any two constants.
In virtue of the relations (7) the function R contains only the
masses and mutual distances of the bodies, further, on writing the
function y;? in the form
(21) wi? = air? + oi(7s),
where w; is an arbitrary function and a; any constant, it is evident
that R can be written in the form (4); whence it follows that the
three bodies under forces derived from (19) describe orbits of the
form (20) whatever be the initial conditions of the motion of the
system.
1909.] LOVETT—PROBLEM OF THREE BODIES. 115
4. In order to generalize certain of the preceding results further,
let us write the equations of the orbits thus
(22) oi =filr%, Vi )— Ci =0, (11, 2, 3)
and the potential function as follows:
t=1
2 3 3 2
(3) P=S mor + 0d/ | Dmtea. + x00],
the axes being rectangular about the center of gravity of the system
as origin.
Let us consider now the case in which we have
(2 ) fe 35 qi> = pi (+4, Vis Fi 5 Tas
(24
Vipi + Vidi = Wil Li, Vin 245 74) 5
from these it at once follows that
i — Ie ea ez)
a —— Vii EVi Vri72di — Wi?,
(25)
17d ai He ViV 17h — We.
The condition of integrability applied to (25) gives
r?{2o(1 ae) hates +I:Pi, +739, + VP, } = 2h i(rivi,.
TIM ae.) = 2(r Wi, Iii, VP —Vi =O,
v= Ein? 3)
an equation whose integration determines ¢; when yj; is given, and
conversely.
(@——1,72)3))
(26)
(a) In case the functions ¢; and y; contain only r; the equation
(26) becomes
: @ ia EN a
(27) PE Ai ame ari
that is to say, it takes the form (18). Accordingly the equations
(25) assume the simpler forms
(28) 17pi His HAM, 17 Ci— Vai FAM,
whence, by integration, the orbits (20) reappear.
(b) Let ¢; be a function only of 7; and y; a function of nj(2:,
116 LOVETT—PROBLEM OF THREE BODIES. [April 23,
where ; is an arbitrary constant ; then the condition (26) becomes
a
(29) 7; 2u TP; — a Vi bi) | =a (2 = I, 2, 3),
from which we conclude that
(30) b= aT,
a; being any constant. The expressions (25) in this case assume the
form
rp as 24, 2n;—1) 22
( ) rip, = NXE, IV ar ae ie
31
2
2 Pon) ly
Ale
TG NW) See Ay Gar n:
The determination of the form of 2; from the equations (31) can
be affected perhaps most simply in the following manner: That yi
is a function only of 1,2; amounts to saying that
(32) a= 207%);
substituting the partial derivatives of this function in one or the
other of the expressions (31) we obtain the following equation:
2
(33) ae Vase my eae = n, “ f, Heal ( er 2) a
whence we have the ordinary differential equation
G34) f= =p (ub fb VON + 1a}, Bas.
The integration of the latter equation may be facilitated by the
substitution
(35) 2u; = mi log(é? + 1),
under which (34) takes the form
df,
(36) a S25 —— V ate — 2 2f2,
n,Ne" — 1
Putting now
(37) jilae —= sin,
1909.] LOVETT—PROBLEM OF THREE BODIES. 117
the equation (36) becomes
au. I
(38) Gin fae
Ver —1
whence
20;
(39) u; =n, tan— {er Sel e.s
that is
(40) f= (EF + 1)? sin (w, tan £, + 8);
or finally the equations of the orbits become
(41) ri sin (20; + B,) = 1;
the corresponding form of the force-function may be written down
without difficulty.
If we note that for three equal masses the relations (7) squared
give
(42) pit=4(rit tri*)+ rt, ik = 123, 231, 312,
we see that the solution (41) for 1= 3 is also a solution of the
problem of three equal masses under forces varying as the masses
and the cube of the distance.
(c) Let ¢; contain both 2; and r;, while yi is a function only of
nisi; the condition (26) becomes
(43) 2(1 — 2,)>;, + NE Di, a ri, = oy (2 = 1,72, 3).
whence it appears that ¢; must have one of the forms
2(my—1) ri 2(n;—1) a
: i m4 A
(44) z, ™ ©, ( : ), ip Wy ( : )
i a
in case m; is unity an arbitrary additive constant may be appended
to each of these forms. Since ®; and ; are arbitrary functions we
have here an infinitude of problems. Considering the second of the
forms (32) a little further, the equations (25) become in this case
2 os . 2n; ey ns Wh Ve
Pp hho = J), Nr A (25) Mees,
a
(45)
Pee = | Qn; & acai
V9; = NIE, FEN" v,( 2) aes
t 7
V
118 LOVETT—PROBLEM OF THREE BODIES. [April 23,
and if in particular the symbol © indicates the square we have
Ti" Ds =e Meas =o vViVI— ni”),
(46) a Aaa
1i7qQi = 21 (Mis SH TiV I — 1:7) 5
from which we conclude that the orbits are represented by the equa-
tions
(47) y Sigs Oil I—n2+ Bi = ¥,, (F— A aaa
(d) The case in which each of the functions ¢; and y; contains
both variables 7; and 2; leads to a multitude of problems in which
these functions are subject to the single conditions
(QS) heGAl — rich 7G. WPe 2 VW nO!
(e) lf
= ys nj y:
sap ft ape ( ot zs o(2)},
(49) ?; i i Le a a
v= (1-4, — 1) 3,
where a; an arbitrary constant, w; an arbitrary function, the inte-
gration follows a course parallel to that pursued under (0) above,
and leads to complicated transcendental equations for the determina-
tion of the corresponding orbits.
VIENNA,
February 25, 1900.
Pie we AS HiStORY) OF THE SEARTE As INFERRED
FROM THE MODE OF FORMATION OF THE
SOLAR SYSTEM.
BY: hee See
(Read April 23, 1909.)
In No. 4308 of the Astronomische Nachrichten (February, 1909)
it is proved that the mode of formation of the solar system has been
very different from that heretofore imagined by astronomers. It
will, therefore, be of decided interest to physicists and geologists, as
well as to astronomers and mathematicians, to consider the bearing
of this new work upon the past history of the earth. If we could
certainly recognize the general process by which the solar system
was formed, it would of course follow that the earth, as one of the
inner planets of that system, originated in the same way, and much
new light might be thrown upon the problems of the physics of
the globe.
The investigation outlined in the Astronomische Nachrichten,
No. 4308, was undertaken for astronomical purposes only, and was
therefore in no way biased by other considerations. And since the
new method is accurate and conclusive, so as to demonstrate with
all rigor the actual processes involved in the formation of our sys-
tem, it becomes peculiarly valuable in throwing light upon the past
history of the earth. In fact this new theory gives the only accurate
and reliable data that we have on the subject, and it is difficult to
see where other data of equal trustworthiness could be obtained.
We shall therefore first summarize the process by which the solar
system was formed, as shown by the researches in astronomy, and
then apply this general theory to the past history of our particular
planet.
Though Laplace was the greatest master of celestial mechanics
since Newton, and formulated the nebular hypothesis as the culmi-
nation of his researches on the dynamics of our system, yet it was.
mg
120
SEE—THE PAST HISTORY OF THE EARTH.
[April 23,
TABLE SHOWING THE APPLICATION OF BABINET’S CRITERION TO THE PLANETS
AND SATELLITES WHEN THE SUN AND PLANETS ARE EXPANDED TO
FILL THE ORBITS OF THE Bopiges Revotvinc Asout THEM.
Solar System.
Ro Po R,
Planet. The Sun’s Observed Observed Period of ate ie Rouen
Time of Rotation. Planet. Criterion,
Mercury 25.3 days
= 0.069267 yrs. 0.24085 yrs. 479 yrs.
Venus 0.61237 ‘ 1673 <°
The earth 1.00000 ‘‘ BLg2ii6°
Mars 1.88085 <é 7424 ‘¢
Ceres 4.60345 ‘‘ 24487 ‘
Jupiter 11.86 “ 86560 ‘§
Saturn 29.46 Ke 290962 ‘<
Uranus 84.02 Os 1176765 <‘
Neptune 164.78 “e 2888533 <<
Sub-systems.
Ro Po : Rasta
Planet. Satellite. ; Adopted Revron of Obscved Fesioe of felon Calculated by)
: : D Babinet’s Criterion.
The earth | The moon I day 27.32166 days 3632.45 days
Mars Phobos 24",62297 7.6542 hours 190.62 hours
Deimos 30:2052))65 TEQ3" 52 yee
Jupiter V g".928 EI.9503)) 66 64.456 hours
I 1.7698605 days 14.60 days
II 3.5540942 « 35-900“
Ill 7.1663872 ‘ 93.933 ‘
IV 16.7535524 ‘S 290: 030 co
VI 250.618 “< | 10768.8 ac
VII |265.0 $c) TTOO2"4| GG
Vill 930.73 «* | 61997.1 ae
Saturn Inner edge of ring 10".641 0.236 ‘f 0.6228 days
Outer edge of ring 0.6456 Ss 25250
Mimas 0.94242 es A 2002) ee
Enceladus 1.37022 ce TROOL5 ieee
Tethys 1.887796 ‘<< TOLS22) SE
Dione 257320913) 6s fay fig) tae ye
Rhea 4x5 5OO tice Ba-620— <8
Titan 15.945417 ‘°° TSOL05) es
Hyperion 21027739016 273.06 a
Japetus 793329375. <5 1580.1 JG
Phoebe 546.5 20712 oe
Uranus Ariel 105, 1112 2520303) <* sepypyd © GC
(Cf. A. N., 3992)
Umbriel 4.144181 << 65-435 ae
Titania 8.705897 ‘< 176.05 Gc
Oberon 13.463269 ‘ 314.83 OC
Neptune | Satellite 125.84817 5.87690 ce 141.8 u
(Cf. A. N., 3992)
1909. ] SEE—THE PAST HISTORY OF THE EARTH. 1
reserved for Babinet of Paris to point out? a rigorous mechanical
law which enables the mathematician to test the nebular hypothesis.
Nevertheless, Laplace himself constantly uses the same principle, in
the law of the conservation of areas, though he does not apply it to
the development of our system. The principle involved is that of
the constancy of the moment of momentum of axial rotation. Ac-
cording to this law, we have
C= miro = od mr =o mr", (1)
where + is the radius of the rotating globe, w the angular velocity of
rotation, and C a constant; while 7’ and o’ are the corresponding
quantities at some other epoch. Thus at any two epochs, however
much the freely rotating globe may have changed by contraction or
expansion, we always have
On —onee (2)
By taking accurate values of the radii and rotation-periods of
the sun and planets as now observed, we may calculate the corre-
sponding rotation-periods when the globes are imagined expanded
to fill the orbits of the planets and satellites. The accompanying
table gives the most important data for the solar system.”
It will be found from this table that the sun would have rotated
with extreme slowness if it had been expanded to the orbits of the
several planets, and the planets also would have rotated very slowly
if they had been expanded to fill the orbits of their satellites.
The difference between the observed periods of revolution and the
calculated periods of rotation is so great that we readily see that the
planets could never have been detached from the sun, and the satel-
lites could never have been detached from the planets, by accelera-
tion of rotation as imagined by Laplace. It is evident, therefore,
that all of these bodies have been captured or added from without,
and have had their orbits reduced in size and rounded up under the
secular action of the nebular resisting medium formerly pervading
the planetary system.
Ever since the time of Laplace it has been believed that our
*Comptes Rendus, Tome 52, p. 481, March 18, 186r.
* Cf. Astron. Nachr., no. 4308.
122 SEE—THE PAST HISTORY OF THE EARTH. [April 23,
system was formed from a nebula, and to-day we know that this
nebula was of the spiral type, due to the automatic coiling up under
mutual gravitation of two or more streams of cosmical dust. Wher-
ever stich streams meet, or pass near one another, there is developed
a cosmical vortex, with rotation about a center, and a definite mo-
ment of momentum about an axis. This is due to the fact that the
impact is never central, but always unsymmetrical, and thus gives
rise to a rotation.
The two or more streams which meet continue to wind up, under
the effects of mutual gravitation, and thus we have the different
observed types of spiral nebulz. The nebula continues to rotate
and the coils are drawn closer and closer together, and the whole
mass slowly ‘settles towards its center. The planets, which are
formed by the agglomeration of cosmical dust in the convolutions
of the nebula, revolve constantly in the surrounding nebular medium.
As the planetary bodies grow by the gathering in of the cosmical
dust in which they revolve their orbits are reduced in size and
rounded up under the secular action of the resisting medium.
It is shown by this line of inquiry, and especially by the round-
ness of Neptune’s orbit, that our system extends much beyond Nep-
tune; and that the orbits now observed to have a round form were
originally much larger and also much more eccentric than they are
now seen to be. It is impossible to determine definitely how much
the orbits have been reduced in size, but owing to the almost total
obliteration of the eccentricity, it seems certain that they were origi-
nally two or three times larger than they are now.
Moreover, it is proved that in a resisting medium of given den-
sity the secular effect is proportionally greater on a small planet
than on a large one. This is owing to the fact that the mass, and
therefore the moment of momentum, is proportional to the cube of
the planet’s radius, but the surface, and therefore the resistance of
the medium, proportional to the square of the radius; so that the
changes in the orbit of a small body are greater than in that of a
large body in the inverse ratio of the radius, for masses of the same
mean density.
Accordingly it follows that small planets, such as the asteroids
or inner planets were at a former epoch, when revolving in a
1909. ] SEE—THE PAST HISTORY OF THE EARTH. 123
-_
nebula, have a tendency to settle towards the center more rapidly
than large planets. In our system the asteroids have been gathered
into their present position partly by the effects of resistance, and
partly by the disturbing action of Jupiter, which throws them into
the stable region within his orbit. When the paths of the asteroids
cross his orbit, the motion is shown to be unstable, and therefore
such overlapping orbits are temporary and not permanent.
It follows, therefore, that the orbit of the earth was originally
much larger and much more eccentric than at present. The earth
may have begun to form almost as far away as Jupiter’s orbit, or
even beyond it. In time the primordial earth was thrown within
that orbit, where the asteroids now revolve. Thus the earth re-
volved in safety and continued to grow by gathering up more and
more cosmical dust. The history of Mars was similar. The major
axis of the orbit was decreased by the effects of resistance, and at
the same time the eccentricity steadily diminished, till we have the
planets as they are to-day. This is as certain as anything can be,
and it throws an interesting light on the past history of our earth.
While the information thus given us is meager, it is, so far as I
know, our only means of fathoming the mystery which has always
surrounded the origin of our planet.
We may therefore say that in the beginning the earth was a
small body like one of the asteroids; it then revolved in a much
larger and more eccentric orbit than at present, and was augmented
gradually by the sweeping up of cosmical dust in its ceaseless motion
around the sun. In general, this process of building up the earth
was excessively slow, though at times the motion through streams
may have given larger additions of matter; but the full process may
have occupied a billion years. Of course, geological history began
only after the earth had attained about its present dimensions. And
the study of the crust of the globe shows that no large additions
to the matter of our planet have been made since geological history
began. The sedimentary rocks are not filled with any considerable
amount of meteoric matter precipitated from the heavenly spaces.
From these considerations it follows that the earth was built
up very gradually by accretion; and that this growth took place
because our globe was revolving in a resisting medium made up of
124 SEE—THE PAST HISTORY OF THE EARTH. [April 23,
fine cosmical dust. In the later periods of the earth’s history, the
medium has been so rare that but little matter has been added to
our globe; so that not only is the whole history very long, but the
latter part longer than the earlier part, as measured by the accretion
then going on. In other words, the accretion now taking place is
so slow as to give us by calculation, based on the observed rate, an
exorbitant age of the earth; while that once going on was so large
as to give too short a duration for the genesis of our planet. All
estimates on the age of the earth must therefore be subject to a
wide margin of uncertainty. But we may feel entirely confident
that we have at length recognized the true process by which the
earth was formed.
There is, however, a modifying cause which should be taken
into account, in our final judgment of the process involved. It
cannot be assumed that the sun was of its present mass at the start;
on the contrary, we must suppose this mass to have steadily in-
creased. The result of the augmentation of the sun’s mass would
be a decrease in the length of the year. Thus while the resisting
medium reduced the major axis and eccentricity of the planetary
orbits, the growth of the sun’s mass also shortened the periodic
times, without, however, decreasing the mean distance of these
masses to any appreciable extent.®
In the actual history of our system, these two causes have there-
fore conspired together and the results now observed must be
ascribed to both causes combined. If we wish to inquire at what
rate a change of a given percentage in the sun’s mass would affect
the length of the year, we may proceed as follows. By a well known
law for circular motion we have
M+m=*. (3)
If we differentiate this expression, considering M and ¢ alone to be
variable, we shall get
dM (t?) + (M+ m)atdt—o,
or
dM 2dt
Mtm "ann WHES (4)
*Cf. Laplace, “ Mécanique Celeste,’ Liv. X., Chap. VII., § 21.
1909.] SEE—THE PAST HISTORY OF THE EARTH. 125
This simple expression shows that a change of a given percentage
in M produces a contrary change half as large int. In other words,
if the sun’s mass be increased by one per cent., the length of the
year will thereby be decreased by two per cent. Thus in the lapse
of ages the augmentation of the sun’s mass may have shortened
the periods of the planets very materially; and this would slightly
decrease their mean distances, as in the case of the resisting
medium. Nevertheless, a gradual change in the sun’s mass would
not affect the eccentricity as it does the major axis.
Accordingly the small size and round form of the planetary
orbits must be explained mainly by the secular effects of the resist-
ing medium formerly pervading our system. And as the earth has
been formed by accretion, and not at all by detachment from the
sun, as supposed by Laplace, it follows that the matter of the globe
is essentially of the same character throughout. For we have else-
where shown that friction and resistance to motion in the body of
our globe would prevent the heavier elements from separating
from the lighter ones. So that the old theories which ascribe an
iron nucleus to the earth must be given up as unjustifiable and mis-
leading. And the increase of density, rigidity, and temperature
towards the center is due principally to the pressure of the super-
incumbent matter upon the layers confined within. It is this pres-
sure which gives the globe its great effective rigidity. If the pres-
sure were relieved, the imprisoned matter, which now behaves as
solid, would expand as vapor, owing to the high temperature still
existing within the globe.
U. S. Nava OBSERVATORY,
Mare IsLaAnp, CALIFORNIA,
April 5, 1900.
126 SEE—THE PAST HISTORY OF THE EARTH. [April 23,
ADDENDUM ON THE VIEWS OF EULER, 17409.
EULER’S REMARKS ON THE SECULAR EFFECTS OF THE RESISTING
MEDIUM UPON THE ORBITAL MOTION OF THE EARTH, AND
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE PLANETS AT A GREAT
DISTANCE FROM THE SUN.
In view of the results briefly indicated in Astronomische Nach-
ricten, No. 4308, and of the paramount part played by the resisting
medium in shaping the orbits of the planets and satellites, as well
as the orbits of the attendant bodies in other cosmical systems
observed in the immensity of space, some remarks of the celebrated
Leonard Euler are of much interest to contemporary astronomers
and mathematicians. These remarks are included in the Philosoph-
ical Transactions of the Royal Society for 1749, pp. 141-142, under
the title: “ Part of a Letter from Leonard Euler, Professor of
Mathematics at Berlin and F.R.S., to the Rev. Mr. Caspar Wetstein,
Chaplain to the Prince of Wales, dated, Berlin, June 28, 1749; read
November 2, 1749.” And this is followed by a similar extract from
a second letter to Wetstein, dated, Berlin, December 20, 1749, read
March I, 1750. |
The views of Euler here set forth are very remarkable not only
for the insight they show into the mechanism of the heavenly
motions, but also into the true mode of origin of our solar system.
It must be remembered that, in reaching these views on cosmogony,
Euler preceded both Kant (1755) and Laplace (1796), and that he
was the first mathematician since Newton to consider the secular
effects of a resisting medium. His views on the origin of the
planets are therefore free from every possible prejudice, and the
direct outcome of the continued action of forces which he believed
to be operative in the heavenly spaces.
Newton seems to have held that the spaces where the planets
move are essentially as devoid of matter as a vacuum. This is
expressly stated in first paragraph of the General Scholium to the
“Principia.” Yet he may have believed that some waste matter is
diffused in the celestial spaces, for in the paragraph just before the
General Scholium, he says:
1909. ] SEE—THE PAST HISTORY OF THE EARTH. 127
The vapors which arise from the sun, the fixed stars, and the tails of the
comets may meet at last with, and fall into, the atmosphere of the planets
by their gravity.
Cheseaux was the first to express the view that the heavenly
spaces are not perfectly transparent, but that light suffers a certain
amount of absorption or extinction in passing over great distances.
(Cf. L. de Cheseaux, “ Traité de la Cométe qui a paru en 1743 et
1744,” 8°, Lusanne & Geneva, 1744, p. 223.) This account of
Cheseaux was written five years before the promulgation of Euler’s
views, and it is uncertain to what extent, if at all, Newton and
Cheseaux had influenced Euler in reaching the conclusion that the
planets suffer resistance in their motion about the sun.
The extracts from Euler’s letters are as follows:
1. First Letter:
XXII. Monsieur le Monnier writes to me that there is, at Leyden, an
Arabick manuscript of Ibn Jounis (if I am not mistaken in the name, for it
is not distinctly written in the letter), which contains a history of Astro-
nomical observations. M. le Monnier says, that he insisted strongly on
publishing a good translation of that book. And as such a work would
contribute much to the improvement of Astronomy, I should be glad to see
it published. I am very impatient to see such a work which contains obser-
vations, that are not so old as those recorded by Ptolemy. For having
carefully examined the modern observations of the sun with those of some
centuries past, although I have not gone further back than the 15th cen-
tury, in which I have found Walther’s observations made at Nuremberg;
yet I have observed that the motion of the Sun (or of the Earth) is sensibly
accelerated since that time; so that the years are shorter at present than
formerly; the reason of which is very natural, for if the earth, in its motion,
suffers some little resistance (which cannot be doubted, since the space
through which the planets move, is necessarily full of some subtile matter,
were it no other than that of light), the effect of this resistance will grad-
ually bring the planets nearer and nearer the sun; and as their orbits thereby
become less, their periodical times will also be diminished. Thus in time
the earth ought to come within the region of Venus, and in fine into that
of Mercury, where it would necessarily be burnt. Hence it is manifest
that the system of the planets cannot last forever in its (present) state.
It also incontestibly follows that this system must have had a beginning;
for whoever denies it must grant me, that there was a time, when the earth
was at the distance of Saturn and even farther, and consequently that no
living creature could subsist there. Nay there must have been a time when
the planets were nearer to some fixt stars than to the Sun; and in this case
they could never come into the solar system. This then is a proof, purely
physical, that the world in its present state, must have had a beginning, and
PROC, AMER. PHIL. SOC. XLVIII. 191 I, PRINTED JULY 8, 1909.
128 SEE—THE PAST HISTORY OF THE EARTH. [April 23,
must have an end. In order to improve this notion, and to find with exacti-
tude how much the years become shorter in each Century; I am in hopes
that a great number of older observations will afford me the necessary
succours.
2. Second Letter:
XXIII. I am still thoroughly convinced of the truth of what I advanced
that the orbs of the planets continue to be contracted, and consequently
their periodic times grow less. ... The late Dr. Halley has also remarked
that the revolutions of the moon are quicker at present than they were in
the time of the ancient Chaldeans, who have left us some observations of
Eclipses.
Euler then discusses the difficulty of finding the number of days
since the time of Ptolemy, and thinks the uncertainty may be a day
or two, also raises the question whether the length of the day is
constant.
At present we measure the length of the day by the number of oscilla-
tions which a pendulum of given length makes in this space of time; but
the ancients were not acquainted with these experiments, whereby we might
have been informed, whether a pendulum of the same length made as many
vibrations in a day as now. But even though the Ancients had actually made
such experiments, we could draw no inferences from them, without sup-
posing, that gravity on which the time of an oscillation depends, has always
been of the same force; but who will ever be in a condition to prove this
invariability in gravity?
He finally concludes that both the lengths of the year and day
are diminishing, “so that the same number will answer nearly to
a year.”
The views of Euler here set forth that the earth and other planets
were at one time farther from the sun than at present are so remark-
able that it is scarcely necessary to do more than bring them to the
attention of astronomers.
U. S. Navat OBSERVATORY,
Mare Istanp, CALIFORNIA,
April 24, 1900.
Bee...
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No. 104 SouTH FirtH STREET
“ve ei Li PHILADELPHIA, U.S. A.
PROCEEDINGS
- AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
- - HELD AT PHILADELPHIA
Cet toate nar ae > OF THE
FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE
VoL. XLVIII. May-—Aucusr, 1909. ety 24) OF fhe
CONTENTS. 1208 Pe.
“Hera a
ey
ee
_ The Evolution of the City of Rome from its Origin to the Gallic
Catastrophe. By JESSE BENEDICT CARTER .............0.0.0e00000: 129
The Linear Resistance Between Parallel Conducting Cylinders ina
Medium of Uniform Conductivity. By A. E. KENNELLEY...... 142
On an Adjustment for the Plane Grating Similiar to Rowland’s
_ Method for the Concave Grating. By Cari Barus.............. 166
The Electron Method of Standardizing the Coronas of Cloudy Con- |
densation., aby CART DARUS .... .ipsctav-cacencgesass counnmes cueeeee ae er,
_ The Electrometric Measurement of the Voltaic Potential Difference,
Between the Two Conductors of a Condenser, Containing a
Eiphiy tonized Mediuny. «By Cart Barus. .):.0..08ib ick tenet 189
_ The Absorption Spectra of Various Potassium, Uranyl, Uranous and
Neodymium Salts in Solution and the Effect of Temperature on
the Absorption Spectra of Certain Colored Salts in Solution.
iy Piarey C. Jonrs and WW: STRONG (ucscid Akasa 194
_ Earthquakes: Their Causes and Effects. By Epmunp O1ls Hovey 235
The Evolution and the Outlook of Seismic Geology. By WiLL1am
STS EST SITS eg 8 06) 9 Sa Sse py Sete ee arte st ON 259
‘Seismological Notes. By Harry FIELDING REID.....................-.. 303
Some Burial Customs of the Australian Aborigines. By R. H.
SUMEEESIOWS ccs ccc bee o's PRON cess ocxatem ran iia care mene aap ane meee 313
PHILADELPHIA
o THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
‘ 104 SouTH FirTH STREET
1909
es
-American Philosop
x
General Mccting Sie 21- 23). 1910
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| AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
104 SouTH FIFTH STREET
PHILADELPHIA, U.S. A.
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
myer ICAN PHILOSOPHIGAL SOCIETY
HELD AT PHILADELPHIA
FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE
Wot. XLVITI APprRIL—AuGusT, 1909 No. 192.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME FROM ITS
GCRIGIN LOWE GALLIC. CATASTROPEM:
By JESSE BENEDICT CARTER.
(Read April 22, 1909.)
In a normally constituted man time and space are in permanent
codrdination. In the world of historical science such a permanent
coordination is sought after, but not yet everywhere obtained. The
student of history and the student of topography are too apt to
work in ignorance of each other. The history of Rome has usually
been written with small regard for that material and physical thing,
the city of Rome; while the writer on topography is far too apt
to see the buildings and the piazzas of ancient Rome as an empty
stage, a place for action, but for an action in which he is not pro-
fessionally interested.
Yet the transition through which so many of the natural sci-
ences have recently gone, the change from being merely descriptive
to being biogenetic, ought to serve as a lesson to the topographer.
It is not possible to study even the site of ancient Rome without
taking into account the vicissitudes of history in which this site
has been involved.
I would accordingly ask your attention today to an attempt to
sketch in its outlines the development of the city of Rome from its
earliest beginnings through the Gallic catastrophe. Such a bio-
PROC, AMER. PHIL, SOC., XLVIII. 192 J, PRINTED SEPTEMBER 2, I909.
130 CARTER—EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME. _ [April 22,
graphical sketch (for under this treatment the city itself becomes
endowed with life and the product is veritably a biography) covers
a distinct field in that long series of periods which follow one
another in the story of the Eternal City. .
Yet this period of the origins has been strangely neglected by
modern scholars, at least in so far as attempts at the coordination
of material are concerned. ‘The student of ethnography has formed
his own opinions regarding the early settlement of this part of
Italy, the student of language has drawn his own deductions; the
student of religion has discovered certain perfectly definite things
regarding the civilization of these primitive peoples; and the stu-
dent of topography has made his own discoveries, but has also held
his own counsel. Yet the language of communication between
these special students has been in the main the old traditional one
of Rome’s founding.
The greatest difficulty which confronts the student of the origins
of Rome is not the absence of statements regarding it, but rather
the superabundant presence of such statements. If what was after-
wards the great city of Rome had been entirely unknown in its
birth, we would have placed it in the category of many other famous
individuals, and thought nothing of it. But the presence of such
a plenitude of sources has at least two bad results; first it leads
to endless and hopeless attempts to reconcile conflicting statements’ ;
and second even after our reason has convinced us that these
statements are without authority and represent merely the late prod-
ucts of artificial legend making, we have great difficulty in casting
them to one side, and we unconsciously and instinctively recur to
them, so much are they a portion of our intellectual heritage.
We may prove that Romulus was not known in Rome until after
the Gallic catastrophe? and that we have no reason to suppose
the Palatine settlement to be any older that the Capitoline or the
*Compare the attempts periodically made to reconstruct the early history
of Rome on the basis of the legendary accounts.
*See Carter: “The Death of Romulus,’ American Journal of Archeol-
ogy, 19090, pp. I9-29; and (more fully) my forthcoming article, s. v.
“Romulus,” in Roscher’s “Lexikon der griechischen und romischen
Mythologie.”
1909.] CARTER—EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME. 131
Quirinal,? but out of the ruins of our tradition Romulus, Remus
and the wolf arise. Thus it is that we are still presenting the
subject according to the scheme and phraseology of Varro, though
there is scarcely any other part of Varro’s learning which we ac-
cept unhesitatingly.
In the first place our study of Roman religion and its coordina-
tion with the study of the primitive religions of today have shown
us that, down to the dawn of history, the inhabitants of the region
of Rome were a semi-barbarous people. Their religion was still
involved in animism. They felt themselves surrounded by a count-
less host of potentialities, whose names they knew, but of whose
nature they were otherwise ignorant, except in so far as that
nature externalized itself in definite acts. Their religious organi-
zation shows that this primitive people was divided, as its most
original division, into curiz or brotherhoods, and that every mem-
ber of the community must of necessity belong to one of these
curie.® Their religion shows us further that their interests were
agricultural.®
Further we know that they lived in little communities on the
hilltops surrounded by a circular wall or stockade. Such a primi-
tive settlement was certainly not a city—an urbs. At best it might
be dignified by being called a town, an oppidum.”
The geological character of the campagna, the presence of vast
*See below, and also “Roma Quadrata and Septimontium,”’ American
Journal of Archeology, 1908, p. 181.
*See Wissowa: “Religion und Kultus der Roemer,’ p. 20, “ Sammtliche
Gottheiten sind sozusagen rein praktisch gedacht als wirksam in_ all
denjenigen Dingen, mit denen der Roemer im Gange des gewohnlichen
Lebens zu thun hat”; and Carter, ‘“ Religion of Numa,” p. 5 ff.
°If we accept the theory that matriarchy existed in Rome before the
institution of the patriarchal system, we are virtually driven to consider the
Curie as preceding the family. For an excellent discussion of the Curie,
cp. Eduard Meyer, ‘ Geschichte des Altertums,” Vol. II., p. 511 ff.
°Cp. the table of gods for this early period, as reconstructed by
Mommsen, “ Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum,” Vol. I., Part 1, ed 2, p. 288,
or by Wissowa, “ Religion und Kultus, ” p. 18 and cp. p. 20: “es spiegeln sich
in ihr (der alten Gotterordnung) die Interessen einer in Ackerbau und
Viehzucht . . . lebenden Gemeinde.”
“Cp. the investigations of E. Kornemann, “ Polis und Urbs,” in “ Klio
Beitrage zur alten Geschichte,” 1905, p. 72 ff.
1382 CARTER—EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME. [April 22,
quantities of running water, and the consequent erosion, produced
a large number of tongue-shaped or circular elevations, admirably
suited to such settlements. These clusters of houses surrounded
by a ring-wall were merely habitations. The people tilled the fields
in the valleys below. It is impossible for us to distinguish clearly
between these hill-top towns in their early history. They were
probably very similar in population and consequently in customs.
Judging however by the presence or absence in historic times of
old cult centers it would seem that there was no settlement upon
the Aventine,® possibly because it was too close to the river. Nor
does there seem to be any particular justification for supposing
that the Palatine was in any sense the leader in this group of hill
towns, by virtue either of its superior age or of its greater influence.
The Palatine is singularly free from old cult associations.1° Such
associations as seem old are connected with the later legends, for
example that of Romulus and Remus, which did not arise until the
fourth century, and even in these cases the Capitoline offers a dis-
tinct rivalry to the Palatine.** It is easy to understand how at a
later day the Palatine might have been elevated into this position
of superiority.'*
* Cp. the presentation of Richter: “ Topographie der Stadt Rom,” p. 25, 26.
° At least in later times it is known as pagus Aventinensis, CIL., XIV.,
2105 (inscription from Lanuvium) ; and the fact that it was later opened
to the plebeians for settlement would indicate the absence of any older
settlement. The town of Aventum is an unfortunate suggestion of Jordan
(‘ Topographie,” I., 1, 182) and never had existence. Cp. Huelsen in Pauly-
Wissowa’s “Encyclopedie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft,” s. v
Aventinus, Sp. 2283, 23 ff.
” Cacus and the very doubtful Caca, in whom Wissowa (“R. und K.,”
p. 24, note 1) is inclined to see a pair of ancient gods, belong really on the
Aventine rather than on the Palatine. Huelsen’s statement (Jordan-
Huelsen, I. 3, p. 45), “von den Kulten auf dem Palatin cheinen einige in sehr
alte Zeit hinauf zu gehen, wie der der Febris, der Fortuna, der Dea Viriplaca,
der Luna Noctiluca,’ must be taken merely relatively, as none of the deities
mentioned (with the exception of the uncertain Dea Viriplaca) precede the
later kingdom.
4 Cp. the rival casa Romuli on the Capitoline; and the Salii Palatini
versus the Salii Collini.
* Owing to its popularity as a residence during the closing years of the
Republic, and the preference of Augustus and his successors.
1909.] CARTER—EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME. 133
This little group of towns is not as yet however the city of
Rome: it is possible that in the course of time it might have become
the city of Rome, either by the superior power of one oppidum
which would shortly have added the others to its territory, in some-
what the way in which the traditional account considers that Rome
was actually founded,—the Varronian scheme, which proceeds from
the presupposition of the primacy of the Palatine,—or by some sort
of reciprocity, resulting in union, of which we see the first traces
in the annual joint sacrifices of the Septimontium.** But either
one of these ways would have required a very long period of time,
and in either case the intellectual development of the people would
have been continuous so that the traces of barbarism even in the
conservative field of religion would have been much fewer in num-
ber. Every indication points to a rapid change and one which
affected the towns equally. Such a change could come only from
outside, and from a people superior to Rome in culture. When
we ask what this people was, the answer comes more clearly every
year,—the Etruscans.
It seems fairly certain that the Etruscans as we know. them
in the history of Italy were a composite people made up of a native
Italic stock combined with an invading stock, whose original home
was in Asia Minor.* Further it seems probable that the invading
stock came by sea across the Mediterranean and landed on the west-
ern coast of Italy, and that their advent did not precede the begin-
ning of the eighth century.** Allowing them about two centuries
“On the Septimontium, compare Varro, L. L. 6, 24: dies Septimontium
nominatus ab his septem montibus, in quis sita urbs est, feria non populi
sed montanorum modo, ut paganalia qui sunt alicuius pagi; and the interest-
ing treatment by Wissowa in the Satura Viadrina-Gesammelte Abhandlungen,
p. 230 ff. Cp. also Platner: “ Classical Philology,” I., 1906, p. 60.
“The hypothesis of the East, more especially of Asia Minor, as the
original home of the Etruscans is at present pretty generally adopted. Their
acquaintance with the Babylonian haruspicina and with Greek mythology,
the general plan of their houses and the shape of their helmets all indicate
an eastern origin. For details see the admirable résumé of the present
condition of the Etruscan problem by Korte in Pauly-Wissowa s. v. Etrusker.
® Whether the Etruscans came by land or by sea is still a subject of dis-
cussion, though the hypothesis of the sea route seems to be gaining strength
at the expense of the other. There seem to be traces of their movement on
134 CARTER—EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME. [April 22,
to accomplish their amalgamation and conquer the region afterwards
known as Etruria, they would come into contact with the Roman
stock in the plain of Latium about the beginning of the sixth
century.*®
The Etruscans, therefore, a sea-faring and so a city-loving folk,
conquered these hill towns and enclosed them all together with the
intervening valleys with one wall. But before building this wall,
they drew the plough about the space to be enclosed and thus
created the pomerium ritu Etrusco.7 We do not know very much
about their wall but we do know about the pomerium, and as the
wall was surely inside of it,1* we have a general idea of its position.
the islands of the eastern Mediterranean, especially on Lemnos, where an
inscription practically Etruscan in character has been found. It is uncertain
exactly what we are to call these people before the “ Etruscan” people were
brought into being by the amalgamation of this immigrant stock with the
Italic stock. It has been suggested with a reasonable degree of probability
that they were the Pelasgians. The date at which they entered Italy is a
matter of some considerable uncertainty. The date as given above (circa
800) depends upon the validity of the supposition that in the long series
of tombs which the cemeteries (especially near Bologna) show, the earlier
tombs are not of the Etruscans but only the later ones, the tombe-a-corridoio,
and the tombe-a-camera. However several scholars, who are in hearty
accord with the eastern origin, and the journey by sea, are not content
with so late a date as the eighth century, on the ground that it does not
allow sufficient time for the development of the Etruscans in the peninsula
of Italy. According to them the coming of the Etruscans should be placed
two or three centuries earlier.
1% This date corresponds with the tradition of the later kingdom.
Tarquinius Priscus reigned thirty-eight years, Servius Tullius forty-four
years, Tarquinius Superbus twenty-five years, a total of one hundred and
seven years, which added to B. C. 500, the supposed year of the founding
of the Republic, gives B. C. 616, as the beginning of the so-called Later
Kingdom. Such an agreement may be of absolutely no value, on the other
hand it may have a certain significance if the tradition represents the faint
reflection of the period of time when the new influence came.
“Not only the Pomerium, but the whole idea of delimitation seems to
have come to Rome from Etruria. Much of the terminology of Roman
surveying bears the imprint of Etruria. Roman tradition recognized the
Etruscan origin of the Pomerium: cp. Varro, L. L. V., 143: oppida condebant
in Latio Etrusco ritu multi, id est iunctis bobus, tauro et vacca, interiore
aratro circumagebant sulcum.
On the whole question of the pomerium and its relation to the city
wall, compare American Journal of Archeology, 1908, p. 177.
1909.] CARTER—EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME. 135
Thus was created what the topographers call “the city of the
four regions.”1® It would be preferable to use the old Roman
term urbs et capitolium, for this city, the urbs did indeed contain
four regions, but apart from the city though inclosed in the same
wall was the citadel, the capitoliwm.?° Such an arrangement is in
itself an added proof that the Palatine was not the ruling spirit.
The Etruscans coming from without were free from prejudice and
chose the Capitoline as their citadel simply because it offered su-
perior advantages from the fortificatory standpoint.
On the Capitoline arose the Etruscan temple of Jupiter, Juno
and Minerva. It is strange that the Etruscan character of this cult
has not been more readily recognized. Minerva herself is more
than half an Etruscan deity, hitherto unknown to Rome,” and the
triad, Jupiter-Juno-Minerva, is a favorite among the Etruscans.
The temple was built in the Etruscan style by Etruscan workmen
and the ornamentation and the very images of the gods came from
Etrunia.24
With the coming of the Etruscans begins a tradition which has
in part an historical value. This tradition presents us with the
figure of Servius Tullius, unquestionably a real person, probably the
*“QDie Vierregionenstadt” of the Germans. I do not know of any
instances of the term in antiquity. The ancient term seems to have been
urbs et capitolium.
” The capitolium had of course a protecting wall of its own. This is
clear from the fact that it was capable of being held against the Gauls, even
after the Gauls had captured the city proper. The other hill-top oppida
which were included in the urbs certainly had walls of their own, but these
walls probably ceased to be kept up after the large surrounding wall was
built. In the case of the Capitolium however the original wall was pre-
served and probably strengthened.
*t Minerva has no festival in the old calendar, the so-called calendar of
Numa. The Quinquatrus which occurs in that calendar and which is ordi-
narily associated with Minerva had originally no connection with her, but
belonged entirely to Mars. Minerva’s cult seems to have originated at
Falerii and to have spread from there into Etruria and also into Rome.
On Minerva, cp. Wissowa in Roscher’s Lexikon, s. v. Minerva, and “ Religion
und Kultus,” p. 203; and Carter, “Religion of Numa,” p. 44 ff.
“The image of Jupiter came from Etruria; compare Pliny (N. H.,
XXXV., 157) and Ovid (F., I., 201 ff.); also the quadriga on the roof
(Pliny, J. c.). The workmen employed on the temple gave the name to the
Vicus Tuscus, where they lived.
136 CARTER—EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME. [April 22,
first historical character in the annals of Rome. But though the
character of Servius is a real one, legend has added many of the
“events” attributed to him. One of these events concerns our own
theme—it is the building of the wall of Rome. The tourist knows
this wallas the inner of the two walls, of which traces still remain
in Rome, that wall of which there are remnants beside the railway
station and on the Via Nazionale.** Up to the present the state-
ment that Servius built a wall has been accepted as an historical fact,
and though it was recognized that the so-called Servian wall as
we know it dates from the end of the fourth century before Christ,
scholars have almost always assumed that there was another wall
on the same spot and that this previous wall dated from the Servian
age.** But, as I hope to be able to show in a moment, this is an
altogether gratuitous assumption, and serves simply to hinder the
understanding of history. In the first place there is absolutely no
proof that Servius Tullius built a wall, other than the name “ Servian
wall” which attaches to a structure obviously of the fourth century.
The tradition would in any case be worthless, but we have not even
a consistent tradition. A study of the growth of the city as at-
tributed to the various kings brings no profit, but exhibits merely a
mass of contradictions and inconsistencies.** So far as the name
* Sections of this wall are constantly being discovered. At the date of
writing (April, 1909) a very fine piece has been unearthed near the
Spithoever property.
“The only exception to this statement known to me is Eduard Meyer
(Hermes, XXX., 1895, p. 13): “dass die Servianische Mauer nicht alter ist
als das vierte Jahrhundert, ist seit O. Richter’s Nachweis unumstosslich.
Sie umschliesst die Grossstadt der Samniterkriege.” That this statement
has not been more appreciated is doubtless owing to the fact that it is
capable of being understood to apply merely to the date of the actually
existing Servian wall, leaving always the possibility that it implies another
wall on the same site preceding the “Servian” wall.
**In Dionysius of Halicarnassus (4, 13) and in Strabo (p. 234M)
Servius Tullius is aid to have added the Esquiline and the Viminal; but
Livy (1, 44, cp. the author of de vir. ill. 7) says that he added the Quirinal
and the Viminal and increased the Esquiline; whereas the Quirinal is else-
where (Dionys. 2, 50, Strabo, p. 234M) supposed to have been included in
the city of Romulus and Titus Tatius. On the other hand the so-called
Servian wall included the Aventine, hence Servius is supposed to have added
this hill to the city, whereas a very strong ancient tradition attributed the
1909.] CARTER—EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME.
itself is concerned, in the minds of the conten. oraries and succes-
sors of Cato a wall at that time nearly two hundred years old
would be easily associated with the kingdom and might readily
be named after the most famous of the kings, Servius Tullius.
There are in other words no traces of a real Servian wall either
preserved in monumental form for the topographer or found in the
historical records. The occasional references found in Livy to the
gates of what we know as the “ Servian Wall,” in connection with
events which happened at or before the Gallic catastrophe, are most
rightly explained as anachronisms, and they offer no difficulty to
one who is accustomed to the vagaries of the Roman historians.*°
On the contrary, it is on the face of it extremely unlikely that
an enlargement of the city limits would have been necessary so
soon after the building of the large encircling wall which we at-
tribute to the Etruscans. Yet, as a matter of fact, the so-called
“Servian Wall” includes a much larger space than the wall of the
“ Four-Region City.’’?* It includes on the northeast the high table-
land where the Quirinal and the Viminal unite, but still more im-
portant it includes the Aventine. It is the inclusion of the Aven-
tine which creates the chief difficulties in understanding the history
of Rome until after the Gallic catastrophe. Let us try the experi-
ment of considering the Aventine as a suburb and of reading our
history under such a condition.** The city which the Etruscans
founded and in which Servius Tullius lived, and according to our
present assumption the only city of Rome until after the Gallic
addition to Ancus Martius (Cicero de rep. 2, 18; Dionys. Hal. 3, 43; Strabo,
p. 234M; Liv. 1, 33; de vir. ill. 5). The difference of opinion regarding the
Caelian is still more marked. On the whole question compare Jordan,
“ Topographie,” II., p. 206, 207.
** FE. g., Livy (5, 41) speaks of the Gauls as entering by the Porta Collina,
referring doubtless to the gate in the “ Servian” wall, as it existed in his day.
* At this point the reader may be inclined to challenge these statements
and to ask what we know of the course of the wall of the Four Region City.
Of the wall itself we know nothing, but we do know that it lay inside the
pomerium, and we know approximately the course of the pomerium, and to
what extent it in its turn lay inside the Servian wall.
*It may require a certain amount of practice to conduct this experiment
successfully, just as it takes practice to eliminate the arch of Severus in
reconstructing the Forum of the Republic and early empire.
138 CARTER—EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME. [April 22,
*
‘
catastrophe, was that particular form of the city which the topog-
raphers call “the city of four regions” and which was more fa-
miliarly known in history as urbs et capitolium.
In the first place we note the permanency of the phrase urbs et
capitolium”® and we ask whether it is likely that the phrase would
have obtained such immortality if the form of the city to which
it was applicable had so soon given way to the other form, the so-
called Servian city. The permanence of the name seems to argue
for the long existence of that particular city from which the name
was derived. In the second place the annals of religion offer us
in this early period at least this knowledge, namely, the establish-
ment of temples to various deities more or less strangers to Rome,
in the region outside of the pomerium.*® One of the most important
of these deities was Diana. She came into the religious life of
the state merely because of her connection with the Latin league,
and her temple was not a temple of Rome alone but of the whole
league.*t.| This temple was situated on the Aventine,®* and while
of course it was outside the pomerium it has always been difficult
to understand why Rome made bold to put a league temple inside
her city wall, when all the expanse of the Campus Martius was at
her disposal. But if as we are now supposing the Aventine also was
a suburb, the difficulty disappears. Conversely when the temple of
Apollo*? was built, while it must of necessity have been outside the
pomerium, it is difficult to see why it should have been placed in
the exposed Campius Martius, when there was the possibility of
placing it on the Aventine itself outside the pomerium but sup-
® Urbs et capitolium occurs; Czsar de bell. civ. 1, 6, 7; Liv. 3, 18, 0;
cp. Liv. 38, 51, 135 Fler. Epit, 2; 6,45; Jord: Rom: 202:
* A useful list of these temples and their dates is given in Wissowa’s
“Religion und Kultus,” p. 516 ff. It is based largely on E. Aust, de zdibus
sacris populi Romani unde a primis liber reipublice temporibus usque ad
Augusti imperatoris etatem Rome conditis. Marburg, 1880.
“Cp. Carter, “Religion of Numa,” p. 53 ff.; Wissowa, “Religion und
Kultus,” p. 198 ff. and in P. W. sub verbo. Diana came into the worship of
the league as the goddess of Aricia.
“For the question of the exact location of this temple, cp. Jordan-
Huelsen, “ Topographie,” I. 3, p. 158 ff. It is found on fragment 3 of the
Forma Urbis Rome.
°8On the temple of Apollo, cp. Jordan-Huelsen, “ Topographie,” p. 535 ff.
1909.] CARTER—EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME. 139
posedly protected by the city wall. For the worship of Apollo was
purely an affair of the Roman state, and hence could well be inside
the wall provided it was outside the pomerium. But again under
our present supposition we realize that the Aventine also was a
suburb and hence, so far as protection was concerned, it would be
a matter of indifference whether the temple was on the Aventine
or in the Campus Martius.
Turning from the field of religion to that of constitutional de-
velopment, it has always been difficult to understand why there
should have been only four city tribes, named after the four regions,
in case the city so soon extended its borders and took in the Aven-
tine. But if the Aventine was added two centuries later it will
readily be seen that the force of habit two centuries old caused the
number of city tribes to be limited to four even when the city had
exceeded the local limits of the four old regions.
But when we turn to the question of the increase in Rome’s
population and the disposal of it we have our best argument for
treating the Aventine as a suburb. The population was increasing
rapidly—we see signs of it in the growing number of foreigners
both tradespeople and handicraftsmen. By degrees there arose a
problem very similar to that of modern Rome, a dearth of houses for
the working classes. It was then (456) that a law was passed pro-
viding for the plebeians on the Aventine.** Had the Aventine been
an internal part of the city it is difficult to see why it would not
have been occupied long before. But as an extreme measure the
expedient of giving the plebeians land in the suburbs might easily
have been adopted.
Thus it was that the city began to outgrow its walls, both in the
Aventine region and in the Campus Martius. The proof of this
outgrowing is given us in the story of the Gallic catastrophe in
B. C. 390. For it is only thus that we can understand why the city
was no longer capable of defending itself, and why the Gauls cap-
tured it without difficulty, the capitolium alone offering a successful
resistance. The tradition of the Gallic catastrophe seems to do
* On this law, the lex Icilia, cp. Dionys. 10, 31, and Liv. 3, 31, I.
140 CARTER—EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME. [April 22,
violence to the truth in at least two respects; first in underesti-
mating the completeness of the Gallic victory; and second with
that sublime indifference to contradiction which is so apt to char-
acterize tradition, by overestimating the amount of physical damage
which the Gauls did to the city. Ata later time it was customary
to attribute all the crookedness and lack of plan which characterized
the arrangement of the city streets and buildings to the haste with
which Rome was rebuilt after it had been destroyed by the Gauls.*
But this presupposes that the Gauls wrought an amount of destruc-
tion which would partake of an industry quite at variance to what we
know of their natural indolence. But quite-aside from the question
of destruction the Gallic catastrophe had brought one lesson home 'to
the Romans, namely, that their city needed a defence. It is not
surprising that in the years following the retreat of the Gauls a
new wall was built on a new line so as to include the now populated
Aventine. To include the suburb at the south of the Campus Mar-
tius was impossible because of engineering difficulties.
It is no wonder therefore that a passage in the sixth book
of Livy (chapter 32) dealing with the year B. C. 378 speaks of
the building of a wall,°° and that another passage (Book VIL,
Chapter 20, under the year B. C. 353) speaks of repairs to walls and
towers.*7 Rome was beginning her conquest of Italy, and it was
necessary that she should herself be protected from hostile forces.
This is accordingly the epoch from which dates the so-called Servian
Wall.
®Cp. the striking passage in Livy (5, 55): antiquata deinde lege
promisce urbs edificari ccepta. Tegula publice prebita est, saxi materiaque
cedendz, unde quisque vellet, ius factum predibus acceptis eo anno edificia
perfecturos. Festinatio curam exemit vicos dirigendi, dum omisso sui
alienique discrimine in vacuo edificant. Ea est causa, ut veteres cloace,
primo per publicum ductz, nunc privata passim subeant tecta, formaque urbis
sit occupate magis quam divise similis. Cp. also the passage in Tacitus
(Annal., 15, 38) where he compares the rebuilding of Rome afier the Gallic
- catastrophe with the rebuilding after Nero’s fire.
°° Et tantum abesse spes veteris levandi fenoris, ut tributo novum fenus
contraheretur in murum a censoribus locatum saxo quadrato faciundum.
*“TLegionibusque Romam reductis reliquum anni muris_ turribusque
reficiendis consumptum, et edis Apollinis dedicata est.
1909.] CARTER—EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF ROME. 141
With the capture of the city by the Gauls, Rome enters upon
her period of inviolability for almost exactly eight hundred years,
and the thought suggests itself irresistibly that the reputation for
inviolability thus gained may have been a large factor in pre-
serving her inviolate. Even in these early days the city began to
be “that so holy spot, the very Rome.”
Rome, April 2, 1900.
THE LINEAR, RESISTANCE “BETWEEN -PARACE EE
CONDUCTING CYLINDERS IN A MEDIUM
OF UNIFORM ACONDUCIIV Id Y>
By A. E. KENNELLY.
(Read April 24 1909.)
It is the purpose of this paper to present formulas and tables
for the computation of the linear resistances, conductances and
capacities between parallel cylindrical conductors, or between a
cylindrical conductor and a parallel indefinitely extending conducting
plane. As is shown in the appended bibliography, the problem is
by no means new; but the mathematical mode of presentation, and
the arithmetical tabulation, here offered, are believed to be new.
It is hoped that these will be useful to students of electrical engi-
neering. Antihyperbolic functions are the natural vehicles of ex-
pression adapted to this problem. ;
INFINITE CONDUCTING PLANE AND PARALLEL CYLINDER.
Linear Resistance.—Let a uniform conducting cylinder of radius
Zz! O Z
Fic. 1. Section of a conducting cylinder DEF parallel to the indefinitely
extending conducting plane Z’OZ.
o« cm., shown in section at DEF in Fig. 1, be situated at an axial
distance d cm. from a parallel indefinitely extending conducting
142
1909.]} BETWEEN PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS. 143
plane Z’OZ. Let the space above the plane unoccupied by the
cylinder be filled by an indefinitely extending medium of uniform
resistivity p absohm-cm. Then the linear resistance between the
plane and the cylinder, 7. e., the resistance of the medium between
them, as comprised between a pair of infinite parallel planes per-
pendicular to the cylinder and I cm. apart, will be
p ce absohm-cms. or C.G.S. magnetic
Y_ = — cosh ; , ; , (1)
units of resistance in a linear cm.
If the conducting surface EDF of the cylinder were unrolled
into a flat conducting ribbon 270 cm. in breadth, and the ribbon
were supported parallel to the plane Z’OZ at a uniform distance
L=co cosh*(d/c) cm. above it, as indicated in Fig. 2, with ver-
tical insulating side walls, Ez’ and Fez, to limit the flow of current
through the medium to the parallel distribution shown; then the
rectangular slab of medium EFzz’ of Fig. 2, would be the equi-
valent in electric resistance to the indefinitely extending plane and
cylinder system of Fig. 1.
In Fig. 2 the depth, or distance across the slab, following
the lines of current flow, is L=o cosh(d/c) cm., and the
Fic. 2. Equivalent slab section corresponding to infinite plane and parallel
cylinder of Fig. 1.
surface area of each face of the slab, per linear cm. of its length,
is S == 270 cm.?/cm. so that the linear resistance of the whole is
z acosh"' (d/o) p mae
eee == cosh-! (“) absohm-cm. (2)
270
Since the linear resistance of the plane cylinder system of Fig. 1,
or of the slab in Fig. 2, does not depend upon its absolute dimen-
sions, the scale of linear dimensions in the diagram may be chosen
144 KENNELLY—THE LINEAR RESISTANCE [April 24,
such that o==1 unit, in which case the depth of the slab is
coshd units and the breadth of the slab is 27 units.
The quantity Y defined by the relation
Yi —— cosh (d7 a) numeric (3)
may be called the distance factor of the plane-cylinder system;
because the distance between electrodes in the equivalent slab of
Fig. 2 is
Lz Vo cm.
When the radius o of the cylinder is very small with respect
to the distance d; so that d/o is a large number, we have
ad
los “2 numeric (4)
so that for such cylinders the linear resistance
a oe log,“ absohm-cm. (5)
The accompanying table gives for successive values of d/o in
column I., the corresponding value of Y in column II. Column III.
gives the resistance factor Y/2r which, when multiplied by the
resistivity p of the medium, gives the linear resistance of the plane-
cylinder system considered. ?
Thus, if a conducting cylinder with a radius of 2 cm. is sup-
ported at an axial distance of 10 cm. from an infinite conducting
plane, in a medium of resistivity p==3 X 107° absohm-cms., we
have d/o=5. The table gives for this ratio the value of Y as
2.2924, and the value of the resistance factor Y/2r—0.3649; so
that the linear resistance of the system will be 3 X 10° X 0.3649
== 1.0947 X 10! absohm-cms.; or 10.947 ohms in a linear cm.
Linear Conductance.—The linear conductance, or conductance
per linear cm. of the plane-cylinder system will be by (1)
20 20
op picosh “(7c empha uf
where y is the uniform conductivity of the medium in abmhos per
oO abmhos per cm. (6)
1999] BETWEEN PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS. 145
em. The quantity 2x/Y may be called the conductance-factor of
the plane-cylinder system. It appears in column V. of the table.
Thus, if a conducting cylinder of radius o—0.5 cm. be sup-
ported at an axial distance of d=7.5 cm. from an infinite con-
ducting plane, in a medium of conductivity y==1071° abmhos per
cm., the ratio d/o in column I. is 15, and the conductance factor
for this ratio appears in column V. as 1.848. The linear conduct-
ance of the system is thus 1.848 X 10°? abmhos per cm. The
distance-factor of the system is given in column II. as 3.4001; so
that the depth of the equivalent rectangular slab of medium is
1.700 cm., the breadth being 3.142 cm.
Linear Electrostatic Capacity—The linear capacity cp of a
plane-cylinder system in a dielectric medium of specific inductive
capacity x, is numerically the same as the linear conductance of the
same system in a medium of conductivity «/4m or resistivity 47/k;
so that, in C.G.S. electrostatic units :
K I
oy = 5 ecse (eye = a7 statfarads per cm. (7)
The values of the capacity factor 1/(2Y) appear in column VI. of
the table for each selected value of d/o.
Thus, a cylinder of radius c==-0.4 cm. is supported at an axial
distance of I cm. from an infinite conducting plane in a medium of
m— i. ere d/o == 2:5. and 1/(2Y )—-0.3192. The linear capacity
of the system is therefore 0.3192 statfarad per cm.
In order to convert the linear capacity cp statfarads per cm. into
microfarads per km., expressed by cp’, we have:
CG
= Fs Tiss + microfarads per km. (8)
C /
P
Similarly, to express the linear capacity in microfarads per mile
* Gy K I
(a = = = — SS
eS SOS SOL! (219
microfarads per mile (9)
That is, we must divide the capacity-factor of the table by 9 to obtain
microfarads per km. or by 5.591 to obtain microfarads per mile.
PROC, AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. 192 K, PRINTED SEPTEMBER 2, I909.
146 KENNELLY—THE LINEAR RESISTANCE [April 24,
POTENTIAL DISTRIBUTION.
On the Median Line Beneath the Cylinder.—It is well known
that the flow of electric current, and the distribution of potential,
between the conducting cylinder and the plane, are such as might be
produced by removing the conducting cylinder and substituting a
conducting polar line at A, parallel to the plane. The point 4 lies
on the line OC, and at a distance a from the plane defined by the
relation
a=o sinh Y —\/d? — o?. cm. (10)
The values of the polar ratio a/o are given in the table in column
VII. for each of the selected ratios: d/o, up to ¢@/o—50, beyoud
which the difference between a/o and d/o is less than 1 part in
5,000. For most practical purposes, it is, therefore, sufficient to
regard the polar line as coinciding with the cylinder axis when the
distance of that axis from the plane exceeds 50 radii.
In the steady state of flow, the potential at any point y, on the
line OA (Fig. 3) distant y, cm. from O, will be
a P tanh- (7) *\ Jrabvolts™ (am)
7 a
where J is the current strength per linear cm. of the system in
absamperes, the potential of the plane Z’OZ being taken as numer-
ically zero.
Similarly, the potential at any other point y, on the median line
OY, below A, distant y, em. from O, will be:
T
u,= TL p tanh7! (2) abvolts (12)
Consequently, if the potential of the surface of the cylinder be 1,,
and y, be the distance of the lowest point of the cylinder from the
plane, the potential of any other point on the line OA between the
cylinder and the plane, distant y, cm. from the latter, will be:
tanh“! (y,/a@)
>" tanh (y,/4)
Potentials on the Median Line Above the Cylinder.—In the
steady state of flow, the potential at any point y, on the median line
OY, and distant y, cm. from O, above the polar point 4, is:
abvolts (13)
u
1909.] BETWEEN PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS. 147
u, = rf coth—! (2) abvolts (14)
where / and zw have the same meanings as above, and the potential
of the plane Z’OZ is reckoned as zero.
Similarly, the potential at any other point y, on the median line
OY, distant y, cm. from O, and above the polar point J, is:
4
He rain 2
ee coth (2 ) abvolts (15)
Consequently, if the potential of the surface of the cylinder be
u,, and y, be the distance of the highest point of the cylinder from
the plane, the potential at any other point on the median line, above
the cylinder, and distant y, cm. from the plane, will be:
coth™ (4,/@)
1s coth! (y,/2@)
Potentials at Points Outside the Cylinder and off the Median
Line—If the point in the plane Z’YZ at which the potential is
required, lies off the median line OY, the potential may be expressed
u
abvolts (16)
either :
(a) In terms of rectangular coordinates g and y of the point.
(b) In terms of the ratio of radii vectores to the point, from the
polar point A, and from its image.
(a) Potential in Terms of Rectangular Coodrdinates—Let P,
Fig. 3, be the point whose potential is required, and whose rectan-
gular coordinates are y and 3, measured respectively along the me-
dian line OY, and the line OZ in the infinite conducting plane.
Then wu, the potential of P, is:
eer tanh (aise) abvolts (17)
where /, p and a have the values previously assigned, and the poten-
tial of the plane Z’OZ is reckoned as zero. Eliminating Jp/m with
the aid of (11), we have:
2 2ay
tanh 1 Gens +H =)
bO)0 axtanhh =" (yt ka)
i= tt abvolts (18)
148 KENNELLY—THE LINEAR RESISTANCE [April 24,
u, is the potential of the conducting cylinder, upon the lowest point
of which yy, and 2==0. -Whus, taking the point P im hae es:
defined by the coordinates y==1 and g=2, and referring the
B:
Fic. 3. Coordinates of a point at which the potential is required.
potential wu of P to u,, the potential of the surface of the cylinder,
where y, — 2, 2==0, we have a= 3.4642 and
tanh~'(6.9284/17)
13 tanh— (2) 224642)
Formula (18) may also be presented in the form:
2a
tanh—! palate
Canta J + 2
; : abvolts (19)
tanh— (gs so y
en
(b) Potential in Terms of Radu Vectores.—A line parallel to
the axis of the conducting cylinder, drawn through the point B,
Fig. 3, on the median line OY and with the distance OB = OA, may
“=
= 0.3285u,.
“w= tu
1909.1] BETWEEN PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS. 149
be called the image of the polar line through OA. The point B,
thus defined, may be called the image polar point. The points 4
and B, taken together, may be called the polar points of the diagram
with respect to the infinite plane and cylinder.
Let P be any point in the plane of the diagram (Fig. 3). Then
let r’ and r be the lengths of a pair of radii vectores BP, AP, drawn
from the polar points B, A, to P respectively. Let these distances
r'y be called the polar distances of the point P. Then the ratio m
of these polar distances will be:
Wig Te numeric (20)
This ratio may be called the polar ratio, for purposes of reference.
The polar ratio will manifestly be a number greater than unity for
all points in the diagram above the infinite conducting plane Z’OZ.
It is a well known result that
/p
be log, m abvolts (21)
If a point be selected on the surface of the cylinder, having a poten-
tial u, abvolts, and for convenience the lowest point of coordinates
y, and g= =o, the polar distances of this point may be denoted by
r,’ and r,; while their ratio may be denoted by m,—r,'/r,. Con-
sequently
Ip
ie log, m, abvolts (22)
and eliminating J, p and 27 between (21) (22), we have
“=u, —*— = 4, —— _ abvolts (23)
The potential of the infinite plane is here reckoned as zero. It may
be observed that
ri atd—c a+d
i ee numeric (2
! ie Fa o ( 4)
When the cylinder radius is very small, compared with the axial
distance d, d—=a, and
150 KENNELLY—THE LINEAR RESISTANCE [April 24,
ai
/ 2d D
oO oe
i numeric (25)
1
It follows from the preceding equations that the equipotential
surfaces in an infinite plane-cylinder system are all cylinders having
their axes situated on the median line. If u, be the potential of the
conducting cylinder, and if we denote by Y, the value of the distance
factor Y for this cylinder, according to formula (3), or to column
II. of the table, then the distance factor Y of any cylindricai equi-
potential surface whose potential is « becomes
Vows numeric (26)
ae,
We have for any such cylinder the equations of condition:
Y= cosh-"(d/c) — sinhs(a/c )—tanhs.(a/d )—— cote (a)
== 2 tanh?(y/a) numeric (27)
whence d, the axial distance, or y coordinate, of the cylinder whose
potential is u, will be along the median line OY:
a
a= 7 ~ cm. (27)
tanh ( y= )
uy
and the radius o of this equipotential cylinder is:
a
sinh ( VG =)
ut,
The coordinate y of the lowest point of any such equipotential
cylinder will be:
Wt — I
cm. (28)
on—
so that
tanh! é =)
u=U amas abvolts (31)
19099.} BETWEEN PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS. 151
an expression for the potential of a point in the medium in terms
of its polar ratio m, and the distance y, of the conducting cylinder
from the plane.
The current density 6 at any point whose polar distances are
ry and r’ will be perpendicular to the equipotential cylinder passing
through the point and will be equal to
a
Seen: ; absamperes per cm.’ (312)
3
VE
The preceding formulas for potential distribution have been de-
veloped with reference to a conducting medium between the infinite
plane and cylinder. They are, however, applicable to the case of a
dielectric medium, if the electric flux ¢ replace the electric current
I, and the dielectric constant x be substituted for y or 1/p. No
substitution will be needed in formulas (13), (16), (18), (19) and
(23) to (31), inclusive, which apply either to an insulating or to a
conducting medium.
Two EQUAL AND PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS.
If, instead of an infinite conducting plane and a parallel conduct-
ing cylinder, as in Figs. 1 and 3, we have two indefinitely long par-
allel conducting cylinders of equal diameter, as in, Fig. 4, at an
interaxial distance CC’ of D cm., then each cylinder may be regarded
as forming an independent plane-cylinder system with a fictitious
infinite conducting midplane Z’OZ, axially distant d—=D/2 cm.
from each. This midplane will be perpendicular to the central line
CC’. The double-cylinder system will have two polar lines equi-
distant from the system center O, and represented in Fig. 4 by the
polar points AA’. The potential of the midplane Z’OZ will be
midway between the potentials of the two cylinders; so that if these
have equal and opposite potentials, the potential of the midplane
will be zero. All of the preceding formulas for plane-cylinder sys-
tems may, therefore, be applied, in duplicate, to the double-cylinder
system of Fig. 4.
Linear Resistance of Double Cylinder Systems.—The linear
resistance from either cylinder to the midplane is given in formula
152 KENNELLY—THE LINEAR RESISTANCE [April 24,
(1). Consequently, the linear resistance of the double cylinder
system of Fig. 4 is
Tog = cosh (d/o) = = Y _ absohm-cms. (32)
where d=D/z2. The resistance factor of the system is thus Y/n,
or double that given in column III. of the table.
Thus, if the two cylinders, each of radius o==2 cm. separated
'
$
Fic. 4. Two equal and parallel conducting cylinders at interaxial distance
of D cm.
by an interaxial distance D—8 cm. in a medium of resistivity
p==5 X I0' absohm-cms. we have d = 4, and d/o = 2.
Y —=cosh2= 1.317, and the linear resistance is
Bux Ow
peg Sa ete ee 10 x
ry) = 31416 ull3 07) — 02 O00. Oo absohm-cms.
1999] BETWEEN PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS. 153
Linear Conductance of Double-Cylinder Systems.—The linear
conductance of a double cylinder system will be half that of a plane-
cylinder system of equal d/o; so that:
7 7 YT
Ly = ecosha(aic) ea: abmhos per cm. (33)
where y is the conductivity of the medium. The conductance-
factor of the double-cylinder system is therefore half of that given
in column V. of the table.
Linear Electrostatic Capacity of Double-Cylinder Systems.—The
linear capacity C,, of a double-cylinder system in a dielectric me-
dium of specific capacity x is half the capacity of a plane-cylinder
system of equal d/o; so that:
K
I
“oo = 4 cosh! (d/c) a ribs
statfarads per loop cm. (34)
The linear capacity of each cylinder to the zero-potential plane,
or the capacity of the system per cylinder-cm., is given by formula
(7). The capacity factors of a double-cylinder system of given
d/o are thus half of the values given in column VI. of the table;
but the capacity factors of the system per “wire” cm. to zero
potential midplane are those recorded in column VI.
At interaxial distances large with respect to the cylinder-radii,
Y = log, D/c, and we obtain the well known formula
K
l= Ao) statfarads per cm. (35)
The linear capacity of a double-cylinder system expressed in
microfarads per km. is
ae | :
“ Sera: microfarads per cm. (36)
Similarly,
i “oo £
TO pra s
5-591 5.591
Potential Distribution in Double Cylinder System.—All of the
formulas (10) to (31) inclusive referring to the potential distri-
bution in a plane-cylinder system apply immediately to a double-
I :
x iy, microfarads per mile (37)
154 KENNELLY—THE LINEAR RESISTANCE [April 24,
cylinder system, after the latter has been analyzed into two asso-
ciated plane-cylinder systems.
Two UNEQUAL PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS.
Let two parallel conducting cylinders, with their axes at C,C,,
Fig. 5, have unequal radii o, and o, cm., and be separated by an
interaxial distance D cm. If the radii were equal, the midplane 2’
would be the plane of zero potential, when the potentials of the
cylinders are equal and opposite. The zero-potential plane is, how-
Fic. 5. Two unequal parallel conducting cylinders at interaxial distance of
D cm. showing the displacement of the zero-potential plane.
ever, displaced from the larger towards the smaller cylinder through
a distance of 3A/2D cm.; so that:
Z 1) aN
ie aed) mu
8
_ jou a (38)
2 BaD
where {= o,-+., is the sum and Ao, —g, is the difference of
the cylinder radii.
1909.] BETWEEN PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS. 155
After having established the position of the zero-potential plane
Z'OZ, the linear resistance between the cylinders may be found by
using formula (1) on each side of the plane and adding the two
parts. The linear conductance will then be the reciprocal of this
result.
The linear capacity of each cylinder to zero-potential plane is
to be found by formula (7). The linear capacity per loop cm. may
be found from the linear resistance per loop cm. by the formula:
Cy statfarads per cm. (39)
K
a 2 0Ae ew)
For example, if two conducting cylinders of radii o,—=2 and
o,—I cm., respectively, are separated in air by an interaxial dis-
tance of 8 cm., the zero-potential plane is displaced through a dis-
fauice.Of is. cmi.,/So that.d,——41ts, d,—— 34% cm: The ratio d,/c, is
thus 2.094, and d,/o, is 3.815. The distance factor Y, is 1.37, and
Y, is 2.014. The linear capacity of C, is 0.365 statfarads per cm.
and of C, 0.248 statfarads per cm., each to zero-potential plane.
The linear capacity of the pair by (39) is 0.1477 statfarad per
loop cm.
The potential distribution in the unequal cylinder system may be
obtained as easily as when the cylinders are equal, since the polar
points 4,A,, Fig. 4, lie at equal distances from the zero-potential
plane Z’OZ.
EXCENTRIC CYLINDERS.
Let the two parallel very thin conducting cylinders be hollow,
with radii o, and o,. Let one be placed excentrically within the
other, as shown in Fig. 6, at an interaxial distance D. Let the line
C,C, joining their centers be prolonged as indicated in the figure.
The infinite zero-potential plane will perpendicularly intersect this
line at an inferred distance of 3A/2D cm. from the middle point of
eso) that:
ZA
“A=spts cm. (40)
and
d, ie eas cm. (41)
AT nD 2
156 KENNELLY—THE LINEAR RESISTANCE [April 24,
The linear resistance between the cylinders can now be determined
by finding the linear resistance of each to the infinite conducting
plane by formula (1) and then taking the difference between these
linear resistances.
Thus, let o, 4 cm., o, =2cem.,D==1 cm. Then 3=6,A=2,
and.d,==6,5 cm, 6, == 5.5 cmi
The resistance factor for d, by the table is 0.2657.
The resistance factor for d, by the table is 0.1697.
The resistance factor between d, and d, 0.0960.
Fic. 6. Two parallel excentric cylinders, one enclosing the other, and the
inferred common zero-potential plane.
which multiplied by the resistivity of the medium gives the linear
resistance between the cylinders.
Through the use of formulas (40) and (41) all cases of excen-
tric cylinders may be computed by reduction to the equivalent pair
of plane-cylinder systems.
GRAPHICAL CONSTRUCTION OF EQUIPOTENTIAL AND STREAM LINES
IN A PLANE-CYLINDER SYSTEM.
To draw the equipotential and stream lines of a plane-cylinder
system, when the polar distance OA or distance a of the polar axis
1909.] BETWEEN PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS. 157
from the parallel plane is known, draw zOK, Fig. 7, to represent
the plane and on the median line OY, perpendicular to zOK mark |
off, to scale, the polar distance a=—OA. Then to locate any
equipotential circle of radius o== OL’, mark off with center O, a
distance d2==OC=AE’, With center C and the required radius
a, describe the equipotential circle FEB. The distance factor Y
for this circle will be expressed by
Y= 2 tanh7' (2: ) numeric (42)
where y, is the distance OF or the y coordinate of the lowest point
4
=
oO
Fic. 7. Diagram for graphic construction of equipotential and stream lines.
on the circle. The potential of the circle with reference to the
plane will be
158 KENNELLY—THE LINEAR RESISTANCE [April 24,.
“= —YV abvolts (43):
To draw a stream line which shall include with the median line
OA the nth part of all the linear flux in the system, mark off on
OK a distance OG —a cot 2r/n; so that the angle OGA will con-
tain 27/n radians. Then with center G and radius GA, describe
the circular arc AH, which is the required stream-line.
It may be observed that if we draw two coordinate axes ov ow
in the vw plane, the function tanh (v-+wVW—1) will correspond
on the yz plane to the required loci, magnified by a. The locus.
of this function, when v is given successive constant values and
qw alone varies, is a series of equipotential circles, while when w
is successively assigned constant values and wv alone varies, the
loci of successive stream-lines are produced. If w is expressed
in terms of w as 7/n and 2v—Y, we have
OF =a tanh v=d—o cm. (44)
OB=a coth v=dto cm. (45)
CE —= a7sinhi aio. cm. (46)
OC «a- coth Yad ; cm. (47)
also OH=a tan a/n em. (48)
OK = 4 \cot -x/n cm. (49)
GA = a/sin (27/n) em. (50)
OG =a cot 2r/n en. (515)
Fig. 8 presents the graphical construction of the function
tanh (v + wy —1) carried from the vw plane to the yz plane, over
the limits v=—1I to v=-+1 and w=—7/2 to w=+7/2.
The points marked on the vw plane have their corresponding points
marked on the yz plane. Thus the point p defined by v—r.o,
w= 7/2 on the vw plane is represented by the point p defined by
y = 1.313, =o, on the yz plane, or tanh (1 + 2/2:W — 1) —1.313.
Corresponding areas on the two planes are shaded alike. It fol-
lows from the formulas already discussed that linear resistances, con-
ductances and capacities are the same between corresponding conduct-
ing surfaces in the two diagrams. Thus, the linear resistance of the
double-cylinder system pqrs—tuvx is equal to the linear resistance
of the rectangular slab system with pqrs as one electrode and tuvx
1909.1 BETWEEN PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS. 159
as the other; 1. e., 2/7 absohm-cm. Moreoycr, the linear resist-
ance of any curvilinear element, such as between qr on one cylinder,
and uv on the other, in the yz system, is equal to the linear resist-
ance between the parallel electrodes gr and uv on the rectilinear
vw system (10/r absohm-cms. with unit resistivity).
4
4
y
€ 1 qQ ey Ss :
sl YW a PSS
U7 sO 8
Lez N S
° #2 ° els ig AIS 3
a2: =
1 1
ince
a ie Ele ee
Fic. 8. Graphical comparison of (v-+-wV—1) and of tanh (v-+-wV—1).
In Fig. 8, a—OA =r; but it is easy to see that the proposi-
tion of equal linear resistances, conductances and capacities between
corresponding conductors in the double-cylinder and corresponding
rectangular slab systems, is independent of the magnification in
the diagram.
160 KENNELLY—THE LINEAR RESISTANCE [April 24,
l II Ill IV V VI VII
Distance Resistance Conductance Capacity J
Factor Factor Factor Factor sinh Y
Loree TE
dia coshat ( =) V jor 1/V an|V 1/(2V) 2_,/(2) —I
1.01 0.1413 0.0225 7.0787 44.47 3.5303 0.1418
1.05 0.3149 0.0501 3.1756 19.95 1.5878 0.3202
ten 0.4435 0.0706 2.2548 14.16 1.1274 0.4582
12 0.6224 0.0991 1.6007 10.005 0.8034 0.6633
1.3 0.7504 0.1204 1.3221 8.307 0.6011 0.8307
1.4 0.8670 0.1380 1.1534 7.246 0.5767 0.97908
1.5 0.9022 0.1531 1.0303 6.531 0.5197 1.1180
1.6 1.0470 0.16066 0.9551 6.002 0.4770 1.2490
a7 1.1232 0.1788 0.8901 5.504 0.4451 1.3748
1.8 1.1929 0.18909 0.8383 5.207 0.4191 1.49607
1.9 1.2569 0.2001 0.7956 4.999 0.3978 1.6156
2.0 1.3170 0.2 0.7503 4.771 0.3797 1.7321
Aa 1.3729 0.2185 0.7284 4.570 0.3642 1.8466
2.2 1.4255 0.2290 0.7015 4.407 0.3508 1.9590
2.3 1.4750 0.2348 0.6780 4.259 0.3390 2.0712
2.4 1.5216 0.2422 0.6572 4.129 0.3286 2.1817
2.5 1.5608 0.2404 0.6383 4.010 0.3192 2.2013
2.6 1.6006 0.2562 0.6214 3.003 0.3107 2.4000
2.7 1.6502 0.2626 0.6059 3.807 0.3030 2.5080
2.8 1.6886 0.2688 0.5922 B72 0.29061 2.6153
2.9 1.7267 0.2748 0.5791 3.630 . 0.2896 2.7221
3.0 1.7627 0.2806 0.5073 3.504 0.2837 2.8284
al 1.7975 0.2801 0.5503 3.495 0.2782 2.90343
Bee 1.8309 0.2014 0.5462 3.432 0.2731 3.0307
3.3 1.8633 0.2966 0.5307 3.372 0.2684 3.1448
3.4 1.8946 0.3015 0.5278 3.317 0.26390 3.2406
3.5 1.9248 0.3003 0.5195 3.204 0.2508 3.3541
3.6 1.9542 0.3110 0.5117 3.215 0.2559 3.4583
au 1.9827 0.3156 0.5044 3.160 0.2522 3.5023
3.8 2.0104 0.3200 0.4974 3.126 0.2487 3.66061
3.9 2.0373 0.3242 0.4909 3.084 0.2454 3.7606
4.0 2.0034 0.3284 0.4846 3.045 0.2423 3.8730
4.1 2.0889 0.3325 0.4787 3.008 0.2304 3.9762
4.2 Bare 7; 0.3364 0.4731 2.073 0.2366 4.0792
4.3 2.1380 0.3402 0.4677 2.939 0.2339 4.1821
4.4 2.1616 0.3440 0.4626 2.907 0.2313 4.2849
4.5 2.1846 0.3477 0.4577 2.876 0.22890 4.3875
4.6 2.2072 0.3513 0.4531 2.847 0.2205 4.4900
4.7 2.22902 0.3548 0.4486 2.8190 0.2243 4.5924
4.8 2.2507 0.3582 0.4443 2.792 0.2221 4.6047
4.9 2.2718 0.3016 0.4402 2.766 0.2201 4.7909
5.0 2.2024 0.3049 0.4362 2.741 0.2181 4.8990
5.1 2.3126 0.3681 0.4324 2.717 0.2162 5.0010
5.2 2.3324 0.3712 0.4287 2.604 0.2144 5.1029
Sie! 425 2.672 5.2048
2.3514
0.2127
1909.] BETWEEN PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS. -161
I II III IV VI VII
Distance Resistance Conductance Capacity :
Factor Factor Factor Factor sinh ¥
do cosh-* (“J Y jan 1/V an|V 1/(2V) 2 (2)
5.4 2.3709 0.3773 0.4218 2.050 0.2109 5.3066
5.5 2.3805 0.3803 | 0.4185 2.030 0.2003 5.4083
5.0 2.4078 0.3832 0.4153 2.610 0.2077 5.5100
5.7 2.4258 0.3801 0.4122 2.590 0.2001 5.0116
5.8 2.4435 0.38890 0.4093 2.571 0.2047 5.7131
5.0 2.4008 0.39017 0.4004 2.553 0.2032 5.8146
6.0 2.4779 0.3044 0.4030 2.530 0.2018 5.9161
6.5 2.5500 0.4073 0.3908 2.455 0.1954 6.4226
7.0 2.6339 0.4192 0.3707 2.380 0.18908 6.9282
Ths 2.7030 0.4303 0.3609 2.324 0.1849 7.4330
8.0 2.7087 0.4407 0.3612 2.270 0.1806 7.0373
8.5 2.8297 0.4503 0.3539 2.22 0.1770 8.4410
9.0 2.8873 0.4596 0.3463 2.170 0.1732 8.9443
9.5 2.9417 0.4682 0.3399 2.136 0.1700 9.4472
10.0 2.9932 0.4704 0.3341 2.009 0.1670 9.9499
II 3.0890 0.4916 0.3237 2.034 0.1619 10.9545
12 3.1763 0.5055 0.3148 1.978 0.1574 11.9583
13 3.2500 0.5183 0.3071 1.930 0.1530 12.9615
14 3.3309 0.5301 0.3002 1.887 0.1501 13.904
15 3.4001 0.5411 0.2041 1.848 0.1471 14.967
16 3.4648 0.5514 0.2886 1.814 0.1443 15.969
17 3.5255 0.5011 0.2837 1.782 0.1418 16.971
18 3.5827 0.5702 0.27901 1.754 0.1306 17.972
19 3.6360 0.5788 0.2750 1.728 0.1375 18.974
20 3.6882 0.5870 0.2712 1.704 0.1350 19.975
2I B97371 0.5948 0.2676 1.681 0.1338 20.976
22 3.7837 0.6022 0.2643 1.661 0.1321 21.977
23 3.8282 0.6093 0.2012 1.641 0.1300 22.978
24 3.8708 0.6161 0.2584 1.623 0.1292 23.9079
25 3.9116 0.6226 0.2557 1.606 0.1278 24.980
26 3.9509 0.6287 0.2531 1.590 0.1266 25.081
27 3.0887 0.6348 0.2507 1.575 0.1254 26.981
28 4.0250 0.6406 0.2485 1.561 0.1243 27.982
29 4.0004 0.6462 0.2463 1.548 0.1232 28.9083
30 4.0041 0.6516 0.2443 1.535 0.1221 29.983
32 4.1590 0.6619 0.2404 1.511 0.1202 31.984
34 4.2193 0.6715 0.2370 1.489 0.1185 33.085
30 4.2705 0.6806 0.2338 1.469 0.1169 35.986
38 4.3300 0.6892 0.2309 1.451 0.1155 37.987
40 4.3819 0.6972 0.2282 1.434 0.1141 390.987
42 4.4307 0.7051 0.2257 1.418 0.1129 41.088
44 4.4772 0.7126 0.2234 1.403 0.1117 43.989
46 4.5217 0.7196 0.2212 1.390 0.1106 45.9890
48 4.5642 0.7264 0.2101 277 0.10906 47.990
50 4.6051 0.732! 0.2172 1.304 0.1086 49.990
PROC. AMER, PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. Ig2 L, PRINTED SEPTEMBER 3, 1909.
162 KENNELLY—THE LINEAR RESISTANCE [April 24,
I II Ill IV VI VII
Distance Resistance Conductance Capacity ; es
Factor Factor Factor Factor sinh }
ad ne Mees PEN
dio wate (<) Vien 1/V on|V ev) |F Ae) 1
52 4.0443 0.7392 0.2153 Biase 0.1077 52
54 4.6821 0.7452 0.2136 1.342 0.1068 54
50 4.7184 0.7509 0.2119 Tage? 0.1000 56
58 4.7535 0.7505 0.2104 1.322 0.1052 58
60 4.7874 0.7619 0.2088 1.312 0.1044 60
65 4.8676 0.7747 0.2054. 1.291 0.1027 65
70 4.9416 0.7864 0.2024 1.272 0.1012 70
75 5.0100 0.7075 0.1990 1.254 0.0998 75
80 5.0751 0.8077 0.1970 1.238 0.0985 80
85 5.1358 0.8173 0.1947 1.224 0.0974 85
fore) 5.1930 0.8264 0.1926 1.210 0.0963 90
05 5.2470 0.8350 0.1906 1.198 0.0053 905
100 5.2983 0.8433 0.18874 1.1859 0.09437 100
110 5.3030 0.8585 0.18540 1.1648 0.09270 110
120 5.4806 0.8723 0.18246 1.1464 0.09123 120
130 5.5607 0.8852 0.17983 1.1208 0.08992 130
140 5.6348 O. 0.17747 1.1150 0.08874 140
150 5.7038 0.9078 0.17532 1.1010 0.08760 150
160 5.7083 0.9180 0.17330 1.0892 0.08668 160
170 5.8290 0.9278 0.17156 1.0778 0.08578 170
180 5.8861 0.9360 0.16989 1.0074 0.08495 180
190 5.9402 0.0450 0.16834 1.0577 0.08417 190
200 5.9015 0.9536 0.16690 1.0486 0.08345 200
220 6.0868 0.9688 0.16429 1.0322 0.08215 220
240 6.1738 0.9827 0.16197 1.0176 0.08099 240
260 6.2538 0.9054. 0.15090 1.0047 0.07905 260
280 6.3279 1.0071 0.15803 0.9930 0.07902 280
300 6.3900 1.0180 0.15633 0.9822 0.07817 300
320 6.4615 1.0283 0.15476 0.9725 0.07738 320
340 6.5221 1.0381 0.15322 0.9634 0.07666 340
360 6.5703 1.0471 0.151990 0.9550 0.07600 360
380 6.6333 1.0557 0.15075 0.0473 0.07538 380
400 6.6846 1.0639 0.14960 0.9400 0.07480 400
420 6.7334 1.0716 0.14851 0.9332 0.07426 420
440 6.7700 1.0790 0.14749 0.9268 0.07375 440
460 6.8244 1.0862 0.14653 0.9207 0.07327 460
480 6.8660 1.0929 0.14563 0.0151 0.07282 480
500 6.9078 1.0903 0.14476 0.9096 0.07238 500
550 7.0031 1.1146 0.14270 0.8072 0.07140 550
600 7.0901 1.1284 0.14104 0.8862 0.07052 600
650 7.1701 I.I41I 0.13047 0.8764 0.06074 650
700 7.2442 1.1530 0.13804 0.8674 0.06002 700
750 7.3132 1.1640 0.13674 0.8501 0.06837 750
800 7.3778 1.1741 0.13554 0.8518 0.06777 800
850 7.4384 1.1838 0.13444 0.8449 0.06722 850
19099.] BETWEEN PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS. 163
I Il III IV VI Vil
Distance Resistance Conductance Capacity
Factor Factor Factor Factor sinh ¥
dla ones (<) Vier 1/¥ onl V 1/(2V) 2=.|("—
[orere) 7.4955 1.1930 0.13341 0.8383 0.06671 [eyere)
950 7.5490 1.2010 0.13246 0.8323 0.00623 950
1000 7.6009 1.2097 0.13156 0.8266 0.00578 1000
1100 7.6962 1.2249 0.12903 0.8165 0.060407 1100
1200 7.7832 1.2387 0.12848 0.8074 0.06424 1200
1300 7.8633 1.2515 0.12717 0.7990 0.06359 1300
1400 7.0374 1.2632 0.12509 0.7916 0.06300 1400
1500 8.0004 1.2742 0.12490 0.7848 0.00245 1500
1600 8.0709 1.2845 0.12390 0.7786 0.06195 1600
1700 8.1315 1.2940 0.122908 0.7728 0.00149 1700
1800 8.1887 1.3032 0.12212 0.7074 0.00100 1800
1900 8.2428 1.3118 0.12132 0.7624 0.00006 1900
2000 8.2041 1.3200 0.12056 0.7575 0.00028 2000
2100 8.3428 1.3278 0.11986 0.7532 0.05993 2100
2200 8.3804 1.3351 0.11920 0.7490 0.05900 2200
2300 8.4338 1.3423 0.11857 0.7451 0.05929 2300
2400 8.4764 1.3490 0.11798 0.7414 0.058909 2400
2500 8.5172 1.3555 0.11741 0.7378 0.05871 2500
2600 8.5504 1.3618 0.11687 0.7344 0.05844 2600
2700 8.5042 1.3678 0.11636 0.7312 0.05818 2700
2800 8.6305 1.3735 0.11587 0.7280 0.05704 2800
2900 8.6656 1.3791 0.11540 0.7251 0.05770 2900
3000 8.6005 1.3845 0.11495 0.7224 0.05748 3000
3100 8.7323 1.3808 0.11452 0.7196 0.05720 3100
3200 8.7641 1.3949 0.11410 0.7170 0.05705 3200
3300 8.7948 1.3990 0.11370 0.7144 0.05085 3300
3400 8.8247 1.4045 0.11332 0.7121 0.05060 3400
3500 8.8537 1.4090 0.11295 0.7008 0.05048 3500
3600 8.8818 1.4135 0.11259 0.7075 0.05630 3600
3700 8.9092 1.4180 0.11224 0.7053 0.05012 3700
3800 8.9359 1.4220 O.IIIQI 0.7032 0.05506 3800
3900 8.9619 1.4262 O.1II58 | 0.7012 0.05579 3900
4000 8.9872 1.4302 0.11127 0.6992 0.05504 4000
4100 9.0118 1.4342 0.11097 0.6073 0.05549 4100
4200 9.0300 1.4381 0.11007 0.6054 0.05534 4200
4300 9.0595 1.4419 0.11038 0.6936 0.055190 4300
4400 9.0825 1.4450 0.IIOIO 0.69018 0.05505 4400
4500 9.1050 1.4401 0.109083 0.6902 0.05492 4500:
4600 9.1270 1.4520 0.10957 0.6885 0.05479 4600
4700 9.1485 1.4500 0.10931 0.6869 0.05466 4700
4800 9.16905 1.4503 0.10906 0.6853 0.05453 4800
4900 Q.IQOI 1.4627 0.10881 0.6838 0.05441 4900
5000 9.2103 1.4659 0.10857 0.6822 0.05429 5000
164 KENNELLY—THE LINEAR RESISTANCE [April 24,
NOTATION.
a= polar distance or distance of polar axis from parallel plane
in a plane-cylinder system, em.
Cp = linear capacity of plane-cylinder system, statfarads/cm.
Cp’ = linear capacity of plane-cylinder system, microfarads/km.
Cp’ = linear capacity of plane-cylinder system, microfarads/mile
Coo — linear capacity of double-cylinder system, — statfarads/cm.
Coo = linear capacity of double-cylinder system, microfarads/km.
Coo = linear capacity of double-cylinder system, microfarads/mile
d= distance of cylinder axis from plane, cm.
d,d, = distances of cylinder axes from plane in double-cylinder
system with unequal cylinders, em.
D = 2d or interaxial distance between two cylinders in a double
cylinder system, cm.
A= o,—o,=— difference in radii of two cylinders, cm.
§=current density ata point inthe medium, absamperes/cm.?.
p= linear conductance of plane-cylinder system, abmho/cm.
Joo = linear conductance of double-cylinder system, abmho/cm.
«== specific inductive capacity of medium,
y= conductivity of medium, abmho/cm.
J = linear current in a system, absamperes/cm.
L = length of flux paths in rectangular slab, cm.
m==r'/y, polar ratio, or ratio of vector lengths from poles to
a point in the medium, numeric
1/n=a fractional part of the total linear flux, limited by a
stream line.
m= 3.14159:---.
y,r’== polar distances or vector lengths from poles to a point.
’y = linear resistance of a plane-cylinder system © absohm/cm.
1) — linear resistance of a double-cylinder system, absohm/cm.
¢ = linear electric flux in a system, statmaxwells/cm.
p= resistivity of medium, absohm-cm.
S == linear surface area of a conducting slab, em.?/cm
+= o,+o,—sum of radi of two unequal cylinders, em.
o= radius of a cylinder, em.
= potential of a cylinder, abvolts or statvolts
vw = rectangular coordinates of points in a plane, em.
Y — distance factor of a system=—cosh“(d/c), numeric
yz == rectangular coordinates of points in a plane, cm.
VV. == y-coordinates of points on median line below acylinder, cm.
V3V4== y-coordinates of points on median line above acylinder, cm.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Kirchhoff, Dr. S.
1845. Uber den Durchgang eines elektrischen Stromes durch eine Ebene
insbesondere durch eine kreisformige. Poggendorf’s Annalen, 1845,
Vol. 44, pp. 497-514.
1909.] BETWEEN PARALLEL CONDUCTING CYLINDERS. 165
Smaasen, Dr. W.
1846. Vom dynamischen Gleichgewicht der Electricitat in einer Ebene oder
einem Korper. Poggendorf’s Annalen, 1846, Vol. 69, pp. 161-180.
Vom dynamischen Gleichgewicht der Elektricitat in einem Korper und in
unbegranzten Raum.
Ridolfi.
1847. I] Cimento, An V., 1847, May-June.
Kirchhoff.
1870. Carl’s Repertorium ftir experim. Physik, Vol. 6, 1870, p. II.
Gaugain.
+1862. Ann. de Chim. et de Physique, 1862, Ser. 3, Vol. 66, p. 203.
Blavier.
Resistance Electrique de l’Espace compris entre deux cylindres, quoted by
Gaugain in 1862; also Journal de Physique, Vol. 3, p. 115, April, 1874.
Smith, W. Robertson.
1869-70. Proc. Edin. Roy. Soc., 1869-70, pp. 79-99.
Foster, G. C., and Lodge, O.
1875. On the Flow of Electricity in a uniform plane Conducting Surface.
Phil. Mag., 1875, 4th Ser., Vol. 40, pp. 385-400 and 453-471.
Heaviside, O.
1880. The Electrostatic Capacity of Suspended Wires. Jour. Soc. Tel.
Engrs., 1880, Vol. 9, p. 115. Electrical Papers. London, Vol. I, pp. 42-46.
Kennelly, A. E.
1892. The Problem of Eccentric Cylinders. The Electrical World, N. Y.,
1892, Vol. 20, pp. 338-339.
Houston, E. J., and Kennelly, A. E.
1894. The Inductance and Capacity of Suspended Wires. The Electrical
World, 1894, Vol. 24, No. 1, p. 6.
Lichtenstein, Leo.
1904. Uber die rechnerische Bestimmung der Capacitaét von Luftleitern und
Kabeln. E. T. Z., 1904, p. 126.
Benischke.
1907. Die Wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen der Elektrotechnik, Berlin, 1907,
p. 44-46.
ON AN; ADJUSTMENT (HOR THE PLANE (GkAdinG
SIMILAR LO ROWLAND 'S (METHOD SHO
THE CONCAVE GRATINGS
By CARL BARUS.
(Read April 24, 1909.)
1. Apparatus—The remarkable refinement which has been at-
tained (notably by Mr. Ives and others) in the construction of
celluloid replicas of the plane grating, makes it desirable to con-
struct a simple apparatus whereby the spectrum may be shown
and the measurement of wave-length made, in a way that does
justice to the astonishing performance of the grating. We have,
therefore, thought it not superfluous to devise the following inex-
pensive contrivance, in which the wave-length is strictly propor-
tional to the shift of the carriage at the eye-piece; which for the
case of a good 2-meter scale divided into centimeters, admits of a
measurement of wave-length to a few Angstrom units and with
a millimeter scale should go much further.
Observations are throughout made on both sides of the incident
rays and from the mean result most of the usual errors should be
eliminated by symmetry.
In Fig. 1, A and B are two double slides, like a lathe bed, 155
em. long and 11 cm. apart, which happened to be available for
optical purposes, in the Laboratory. They were therefore used,
although single slides at right angles to each other, similar to Row-
land’s, would have been preferable. The carriages C and D, 30 cm.
long, kept at a fixed distance apart by the rod akb, are in practice
a length of 4-inch gas pipe, swivelled at a and b, 169.4 centimeters
apart, and capable of sliding right and left and to and fro, normally
to each other.
* The investigations in this paper were undertaken throughout in con-
junction with my son, Mr. Maxwell Barus; but it seemed advisable that I
should undertake the publication in these Proceeprncs myself, with the
present acknowledgment.
166
1909.] SIMILAR TO ROWLAND’S METHOD. 167
The swivelling joint which functioned excellently, is made very
simply of 4-inch gas pipe T’s and nipples, as shown in Fig. 2. The
lower nipple N is screwed tight into the T, but all but tight into
the carriage D, so that the rod ab turns in the screw N, kept oiled.
Similarly the nipple N” is either screwed tight into the T (in one
Fic. 1. Plan of apparatus. AA, BB, slides; C, D, carriages;
R, connecting rod.
method, revoluble grating), or all but tight (in another method, sta-
tionary grating), so that the table ft, which carries the grating g
may be fixed while the nipple N” swivels in the T. Any ordinary
168 BARUS—ADJUSTMENT FOR PLANE GRATING [April 24,
laboratory clamp K and a similar one on the upright ¢ (screwed into
the carriage S) secures a small rod k for this purpose. Again a hole
may be drilled through the standards at K and c¢ and provided with
set screws to fix a horizontal rod k or check. The rod k should be
long enough to similarly fix the standard on the slide S carrying the
slit and be prolonged further toward the rear to carry the flame or
Geissler tube apparatus. The table tt is revoluble on a brass rod
fitting within the gas pipe, which has been slotted across so that the
conical nut M may hold it firmly. The axis passes through the
middle of the grating, which is fastened centrally to the table t# with
the usual tripod adjustment.
2. Single Focusing Lens in Front of Grating.—I shall describe
three methods in succession, beginning with the first. Here a large
lens L, of about 56 cm. focal distance and about 10 cm. in diameter,
is placed just in front of the grating, properly screened and throw-
ing an image of the slit S upon the cross-hairs of the eye-piece E,
the line of sight of which is always parallel to the rod ab, the end
b swivelled in the carriage C, as stated (see Fig. 2). An ordinary
lens of 5 to 10 cm. focal distance, with an appropriate diaphragm,
is adequate and in many ways preferable to stronger eye-pieces.
The slit S, carried on its own slide and capable of being clamped to
c when necessary, as stated, is additionally provided with a long
rod hh lying underneath the carriage, so that the slit S may be
put accurately in focus by the observer at C. F is a carriage
for the mirror or the flame or other source of light whose spectrum
is to be examined; or the source may be adjustable on the rear of
the rod by which D and S are locked together.
Finally the slide AB is provided with a scale ss and the position
of the carriage C read off by aid of the vernier v. A good wooden
scale graduated in centimeters happened to be available, the vernier
reading to within one millimeter. For more accurate work a brass
scale in millimeters with an appropriate vernier should of course
be used.
Eye-piece E, slit S, flame F, etc., may be raised and lowered by
the split tube devise shown as at M and M’ in Fig. 2.
3. Adjustments——The first general test which places slit, grating
and its spectra and the two positions of the eye-piece in one plane,
1909.] SIMILAR TO ROWLAND’S METHOD. 169
is preferably made with a narrow beam of sunlght, though lamp-
light suffices in the dark. Thereafter let the slit be focused with
the eye-piece on the right marking the position of the slit; next
- focus the slit for the eye-piece on the left; then place the slit mid-
way between these positions and now focus by slowly rotating the
grating. The slit will then be found in focus for both positions
Fi gua:
Fic. 2. Elevation of the grating (g) and the eyepiece (£) standards.
and the grating which acts as a concave lens counteracting L will
be symmetrical with respect to both positions.
Let the grating be thus adjusted when fixed normally to the slide
B or parallel to A. Then for the first order of the spectra the
wave-length jd sin 6, where d is the grating space and 6 the
angle of diffraction. The angle of incidence 7 is zero.
Again let the grating, adjusted for symmetry, be free to rotate
with the rod ab. Then @ is zero and A=d sin 1.
In both cases however if 2% be the distance apart of the car-
170 BARUS—ADJUSTMENT FOR PLANE GRATING [April 24,
riage C, measured on the scale ss, for the effective length of rod
ab —r between axis and axis,
Nd ter (0 / 2rer,
so that in either case A and + are proportional quantities.
The whole spectrum is not however clearly in focus at one time,
though the focusing by aid of the rod hh is not difficult. For
extreme positions a pulley adjustment, operating on the ends of h
Fics. 3, 4, 5. Diagrams.
is a convenience, the cords running around the slide AA. In fact
if the slit is in focus when the eye-piece is at the center (6=0,
1==0) at a distance a from the grating, then for the fixed grating,
Fig. 4,
1909.] SIMILAR TO ROWLAND’S METHOD. uri
where a’ is the distance between grating and slit for the diffraction
corresponding to .r. Hence the focal distance of the grating re-
garded as a concave lens is f’—ar’/x’. For the fixed grating and
a given color, it frequently happens that the undeviated ray and
the diffracted rays of the same color are simultaneously in focus,
though this does not follow from the equation.
Again for the rotating grating, Fig. 3, if a’’ is the distance be-
tween slit and grating
(Ge
Eo =O
z
so that its focal distance is
” Siren cae
fl! =a——,
x
It follows also that a’ X a” =a?. For a=8o cm. and sodium light,
the adjustment showed roughly f’—=650 cm., f’— 570, the be-
havior being that of weak concave lenses. The same a=8o0 cm.
and sodium light showed furthermore a’ 91 and a” 70.3.
Finally there is a correction needed for the lateral shift of rays,
due to the fact that the grating film is enclosed between two moder-
ately thick plates of glass (total thickness t= .99 cm.) of the index
of refraction n. This shift thus amounts to
tr ( I I ) b
a ee = 5
r\Vi—# [PrP Ve—x2[P)a
But since this shift is on the rear side of the lens L, its effect on
the eye-piece beyond will be (if f is the principal focal distance and
b the conjugate focal distance between lens and eye-piece, remem-
bering that the shift must be resolved parallel to the scale ss)
=( I I \G )
ée= — ——. — — SaaS et
TaN Fie Ve ae |? de
where the correction e is to be added to 24, and is positive for the
rotating grating and negative for the stationary grating.
Hence in the mean values of 2+ for stationary and rotating
grating the effect of e is eliminated. For a given lens at a fixed
distance from the eye-piece (b/f— 1) is constant.
172 BARUS—ADJUSTMENT FOR PLANE GRATING [April 24,
4. Data for Single Lens in Front of Grating.—In conclusion we
select a few results taken at random from the notes.
Grating | Line. Observed 27’. Shift. Corrected 27x.
Stationary es | 132.60 | —.26 | 132.34
D, | 113.90 | —.23 | 118.67
F 98.23 —.19 98.04
Hydrogen | 87.87 —.16 87.71
Violet
Rotating C 132.10 | 4.26 132.36
D, 118.45 -23 pee
97-90 1g 98.09
H. Violet _ 87.50 | 16 87.66
The real test is to be sought in the coresponding values of 2x
for the stationary and rotating cases, and these are very satisfactory,
remembering that a centimeter scale on wood and a vernier reading
to millimeters only was used for measurement.
5. Single Focusing Lens Behind the Grating.—The lens L’, which
should be achromatic, is placed in the standard behind g. The light
which passes through the grating is now convergent, whereas it was
divergent in §2. Hence the focal points at distances a’, a” lie in
front of the grating; but in other respects the conditions are similar
but reversed. Apart from signs, for the stationary grating
; 7 a
a=a s—>
Fs
and for the rotating grating
v
f= 7
The correction for shift loses the factor (b/f-—1) and becomes
WZ I I
ar, ( Vi- wer ae)
As intimated, it is negative for the rotating grating and positive for
the stationary grating. It is eliminated in the mean values.
6. Data. Single .Lens Behind the Grating—An example of
the results will suffice. Different parts of the spectrum require
focusing.
Grating. Line. 2x Shift. 2x
Stationary: 6-6 ec etests Dz 118.40 + .13 118.53
WROratinoue Abr cent eee es Dz 118.65 — .13 118.52
a oie
1909.] SIMILAR TO ROWLAND’S METHOD. 173
The values of 2%, remembering that a centimeter scale was used,
are again surprisingly good. The shift is computed by the above
equation. It may be eliminated in the mean of the two methods.
The lens L’ may be more easily and firmly fixed than L.
7. Collimator Method.—The objection to the above single-lens
methods is the fact that the whole spectrum is not in sharp focus at
once. Their advantage is the simplicity of the means employed. If
a lens at L’ and at L are used together, the former as a collimator
(achromatic) and with a focal distance of about 50 cm., and the
latter (focal distance to be large, say 150 cm.) as the objective of
a telescope, all the above difficulties disappear and the magnification
may be made even excessively large. The whole spectrum is bril-
liantly in focus at once and the corrections for the shift of lines
due to the plates of the grating vanish. Both methods for stationary
and rotating gratings give identical results. The adjustments are
easy and certain, for with sunlight (or lamplight in the dark) the
image of the slit may be reflected back from the plate of the grating
on the plane of the slit itself, while at the same time the transmitted
image may be equally sharply adjusted on the focal plane of the
eye-piece. It is therefore merely necessary to place the plane of
spectra horizontal. Clearly a’ and a” are all infinite.
In this method the slide S:and D are clamped at the focal dis-
tance apart, so that flame, etc., slit, collimator lens and grating move
together. The grating may or may not be revoluble with the lens L
on the axis a.
8. Data for the Collimator Method.—The following data chosen
at random may be discussed. The results were obtained at different
times and under different conditions. The grating nominally con-
tained about 15,050 lines per inch. The efficient rod length ab was
R=169.4 cm. Hence if 1/C=15,050 X .3937 K 338.8, the wave-
length A=C.2* cm.
Grating. Lines. 2a! _ 24
RranOHAGH 2524255. 0s050' D: 118.30 118.19
i SLE ae alee Dz 118.08 118.19
RYE AEMMIAENG sor SE aise «22. D: 118.27 118.16
UT ea D: 118.05 118.16
174 BARUS—ADJUSTMENT FOR PLANE GRATING [April 24,
Rowland’s value of D, is 58.92 & 10°* cm.; the mean of the two
values of 2% just stated will give 58.87 & 10° cm. The difference
may be due either to the assumed grating space, or to the value of R
inserted, neither of which were reliable absolutely to much within
ty perreent:
Curious enough an apparent shift effect remains in the values of
2x for stationary and rotating grating, as if the collimation were
imperfect. The reason for this is not clear, though it must in any
case be eliminated in the mean result. Possibly the friction involved
in the simultaneous motion of three slides is not negligible and may
leave the system under slight strain equivalent to a small lateral
shift of the slit.
g. Discussion.—The chief discrepancy is the difference of values
for 21 in the single lens system (for D,, 118.7 and 118.5 cm., re-
-ectively) as compared with a double lens system (for D,, 118.2
i.) amounting to .2 to .4 per cent. For any given method this dif-
ference is consistently maintained. It does not, therefore, seem to
be mere chance.
We have for this reason computed all the data involved for a
fixed grating 5 cm. in width, in the two extreme positions, Fig. 5,
the ray being normally incident at the left hand and the right hand
edge respectively for the method of §6. The meaning of the sym-
bols is clear from Fig. 5, S being the virtual source, g the grating, e
the diffraction conjugate focus of S for normal incidence, so that
b=r is the fixed length of rod carrying grating and eye-piece. It
is almost sufficient to assume that all diffracted rays b’ to b” are
directed towards e, in which case equations (1) would hold; but this
will not bring out the divergence in question. They were therefore
not used. Hence the following equations (2) to (5) successively
apply where d is the grating space.
(1) cot 6’—(b/g+sin6)/cos 6; cot 6” = (b/g — sin 6) /cos 6;
(2)) (ab / cos"; a’ =a" —V/ 92 + a:
(2) sing —=cint gay
(4) —sini’+sin (6+ 6')=A/d; sind=A/d;
sini’ + sin (86 — 0”) =d/d;
(5) cos?#’/a’ =cos*(0 + 6’) /b’; :cos* 1a” ==cos?( 6 8" )// Be.
1909.] SIMILAR TO ROWLAND’S METHOD. 175
Since 6, g, A, d, b, are given @’ and 6” are found in equation (4),
apart from signs. If 6, and 6,” be the distance apart of the projec-
tions of the extremities of b’ and b, b and b”, respectively, on the
line +,
(6)
8,’ =g+ (b—0’' ) sind—D' sin?’
6,” =g + (b” —b) sin 6 — b” sin 1”
If 8,’ and 8,” be the distance apart of the intersections of the
prolongation of b’ and b, b and b”, respectively, with the line +x,
6,’ = sin (6+ 0’) (bcos 6/cos (8+ 6’) —b’)
(7)
8,’ = sin (6 — @”) (b””— b cos 6/cos (6 — 6”) )
Given b= 169.4 cm., == 20° 22’, about for sodium, g—=5 cm.,
the following values are obtained:
Get 30r, &— 192-7 cm., Di 166.01cm:,
C— 1347. 2 — 4 -—— O02 OCI... 7——D—— 10:4 Cinl.,
tin Os Oli 7 2: A Cis,
whence
6, —O2iem | 905 ==. 74 em,
These limits are surprisingly wide. If, however, they should be
quite wiped out on focusing, for any group of rays and symmetrical
observations on the two sides of the apparatus, this would be no
source of discrepancy. The effect of focusing the two parts of the
grating may, in the first instance, be considered as a prolongation
of b’ till it cuts x, together with the corresponding points for the
intersection of b” with x. Thus the values 8,’ and 8,” are here in
question and they are
oo 1-7, Cre, 6,’ — 8,’ = .05 cm.
whence
D3 105 ei., 6,” —$, = .09 cm.
are the conjugate foci for the extreme rays of the grating, respec-
tively, beyond the conjugate focus of the middle or normal rays b,
on +. Hence the mean of the extreme rays lies at .o7 cm. beyond
176 BARUS—ADJUSTMENT FOR PLANE GRATING [April 24,
(greater 6) the normal ray and the » found in the first instance is
too large as compared with the true value for the normal ray.
The datum .o7 cm. may be taken as the excess of 2%, corre-
sponding to the excess of angle for a grating one half as wide and
observed on both sides (2%), as was actually the case. Finally,
since the whole of the grating is not in focus at once a correction
less than .o7 cm. for 2% must clearly be in question. This is quite
below the difference of several millimeters brought out in §§ 4 and 6.
To make this point additionally sure and avoid the assumption
of the last paragraph, we will compute the conjugate focus of the
central ray (different angles 0) on the b’ focal plane parallel to the
grating and to x and on the b” focal plane parallel to +. The com-
putation is simpler if the central ray is thus focused, than if the
extreme rays are focused on the x plane. The distance apart will be
§,/ = g — b’ cos (6+ 6’) (tan (6+ 6’) —tan6),
8,” =g — b” cos (6 — 6”) (tan 6— tan (0 — 6”) ).
Inserting the results for 6, 6,', 0,”, b’, b”, g,
os == 003) 0.) —— 048
Both the b foci thus correspond to large angles. Their mean,
however, may be considered as vanishing on the intermediate -r
plane.
Thus it is clear that the effect of focusing is without influence
on the diffraction angle and much within the limits of observation.
It is therefore probable that the residual discrepancy in the three
methods is referable to a lateral motion of the slit itself due to
insufficient symmetry of the slides 44 and BB in the above adjust-
ment. This agrees, moreover, with the residual shift observed in
the case of parallel rays in § 8.
Brown UNIVERSITY,
PROVIDENCE, R. I.
SHE ELECTRON METHOD OF STANDARDIZING THE
CORONAS, GF “CLOUDY ‘CONDENSATION.
By CARL BARUS.
(Read April 24, 1909.)
1. Introductory.—Last year I published some preliminary experi-
ments! in which the coronal display of the fog chamber was stan-
dardized by aid of the value of Thomson’s electron, 10'°e = 3.4
electrostatic units, and of the known velocity of the ions. Later
similar experiments were made in terms of the former datum and
the decay constants of the ions, though this method is not here to
be considered. In the experiments in question a separate leaded
condenser was used to determine the ionization, while the nucleation
was measured in a cylindrical fog chamber. The data, though nec-
essarily rough, owing to the dampness of the room in the summer
time, when used for the determination of e by aid of my earlier and
independent constants of coronas, nevertheless gave a series of
promising values. In the paper cited it was assumed that the whole
current due to both positive and negative ions is measured. If,
however, the current observed is due to negative ions, while the
negative ions only were caught in the fog chamber used, as now
appears probable, then the data would be (V denoting the fall of
potential per second, dV’ /dr the average field, all referred to volts, N
the number of nuclei (negative ions), per cubic centimeter).
dV |dr 103 7 |V N 101%
1.0 40 150,000 23
i 50 185,000 we
oy) 60 210,000 3.7
12 137 570,000 2
where the velocity of negative ions in a unit field of dry air is taken
as v— 1.97 ‘em./sec.
* American Journal of Science, XXVI., 1908, p. 87; idem, p. 324.
Hida,
178 BARUS—METHOD OF STANDARDIZING [April 24,
In the following experiments I have returned to the measure-
ments of N in terms of e and the velocities of the ions, modifying
the method by using the cylindrical fog chamber both as an electrical
condenser for the measurement of current, as well as for the speci-
fication of the number of ions in action by aid of the coronas of
cloudy condensation.
2. Apparatus.—This consists of a cylinder of glass C, F, about
45 cm. long, 13.4 cm. internal diameter, closed at one end F and pro-
vided with a brass cap C, with exhaust F and influx attachments J,
in the usual way. There is a layer of water w at the bottom. The
glass must be scrupulously clean within; and this is best secured by
scouring with a probang of soft rubber under water, until the water
adheres as an even film on shaking. The fog chamber is put to
earth, as at e.
The end F is perforated at h, to receive the aluminum tube ¢?’,
closed at t’ and open at t, 40 cm. long and .64 cm. external diameter.
Sealed tubelets of radium 17, r,...may be placed at intervals within
this tube to ionize the surrounding wet air. The walls being about
I cm. thick, 8 and y rays are wholly in question. Neither emanation
nor a@ rays escaped the double thickness of aluminum. The tube ##’ is
grasped at t by a sheath of hard rubber with an annular air space
and fixed in place by a rubber cork. If care be taken to keep the
tube in dry air except when in use, there is no conduction leakage
of consequence.
The end t, moreover, is placed in connection with a Dolezalek
electrometer, by aid of a thin wire (not shown) running axially
1909. ] THE CORONAS OF CLOUDY CONDENSATION. 179
within an earthed tin drain pipe and away from the fog chamber,
to escape the action of y rays as much as possible. In fact their
combined effect does not exceed 2 per cent. and is determined in
special measurements.
The keys to the electrometer,? etc., were all placed on pillars of
hard rubber and actuated by long wooden rods from a distance.
So far as possible the electrical wires of the room were surrounded
by earthed pipes, but it was not practicable to carry this out com-
pletely so that a method of correction appears in the work below.
Even when the electric lighting circuit was completely cut out, the
electrostatic drift in question remained.
The measurements were standardized and the electric system
charged by a Carhart-Clarke cell.
The radium tubelets used were as follows:
No. I, 100 milligrams, strength 10,000 X
No. II, t0 milligrams, strength 200,000 X
No. III, too milligrams, strength 10,000
No. IV, 100 milligrams, strength 7,000 X
No. V, 100 milligrams, strength 20,000 X
3. Electrical Condensers.—To give the fall of potential a suitably
small value relatively to the period of the damped drop of the needle,
anumber of auxiliary condensers, C’, C”, Fig. 1, are needed. It
suffices, however, to measure three capacities, viz.,
1. That of the cored fog chamber alone, c;
2. That of a relatively large auxiliary condenser, including
the electrometer, the piped wires and the fog chamber,
Pelae EY ot
3. That of a standard condenser, C’, for reference.
In the present paper C’ was computed by the equation
A I 16V TA(d + a’) aa!
(eee awed \ We {Get a ae
é -(: og (a+ d\n re + a’l\n z; ))
where A is the area, d the distance apart and d’ the thickness of
*The disposition of condensers C’, C”, cell, etc., earthed at e is sug-
gested in Fig. 1.
180 BARUS—METHOD OF STANDARDIZING [April 24,
the brass plates. Since A is equal 315 sq. cm., d=.082 cm.,
2 107 em,
C’ = 305.6(1 + .0784) = 330 cm.
This value will suffice for the present purposes, though it needs
further correction by comparison with a standard condenser, not
now at hand.
A special key was provided (Fig. 1) whereby C’ could be
switched into the electrometer system or out of it and put to earth.
Hence in a series of successive discharges
CO Oe acy ite ig
(CY + o)y' = (C” + Ci + By a
etc., so that for m discharges, if the residual potential is V»,
V(C" + c= V(C" + C0),
from which the total capacity C=C” + C’+c is determinable in
terms of C’. The results were:
Positive charge, C’ + C’ + c=1,445, 1,443, 1,422,
Negative charge, C’ +C +c¢= 1,482, 1,480,
Mean C 1,459,
the experiments alternating from positive to negative charge, be-
cause of the marked drift by the electrometer system when isolated
from the cell, as already specified. To measure the small capaci-
ties c, of the fog chamber, the same method with ten discharges
suffices, if C’” is excluded and C” retained. Thus the data were
successively found,
“| Charge, 6118) 124 12!2) (ize;
— Charge, ¢==10:8- FO ) Tn.) 15.5)
Meany G03 iy ee Om aie)
eliminating the drift in the final mean, c—11.4.
Since the capacity c in terms of the effective internal radius FR,
and external radius FR, the length / of the clindrical condenser may
be written
I
OHS Aas REN a
I Kes
ee a
1909. ] THE CORONAS OF CLOUDY CONDENSATION. 181
the constant c furnishes a mean value for the factor on the left.
The ratio of 4.6 c to the measured value of (log R,/R,)/l was
.568, a reduction factor used throughout the tables below.
4. Method Pursued—lf C is equal to C’+C’+c we may
write the equation for the negative ionization N (positive charge)
wal FOLR, d(In V) we fn V)
6007lve at Pr ba
where R,, R, and / are the effective radii and length of the con-
Gensel lO e— 2 AwU—— tot Clie sec.) and, %—= tay Ci,/SeC., the
velocity of the negative and positive ions in the unit field, volt/cm.,
in case of moist air. The factor (In R,/R,)/l is replaced by 1/2C,
as specified in §3, which must here be regarded as an adequate
correction for the ends and the imperfect cylindricity of the con-
denser fog chamber.
Similarly the equation for the positive ionization is (negative
charge),
Cink jake, ain") ,a(in VY’)
~ 6007lue FT ae i dt
and the total ionization is therefore N+ N’.
The experiments below will show that even if the fog chamber
is put to earth, there is a drift towards negative potential, suffi-
ciently steady to be eliminated in the mean results. Hence if V,
be the effective negative potential of the wet glass envelope we may
write tentatively,
Fe nf ai \ a How
y
where Il’, is intrinsically negative.
Similarly,
V. d(In V’’)
/ Ol Z
NV (: + =e a
Hence if V=V', N+ N’ the total ionization is again
SN Mie TahIZ4)
dt K K .
Direct experiments, however, show that the drift results from
182 BARUS—METHOD OF STANDARDIZING [April 24,
the influx of a high permanent positive voltage. Curiously enough
even when the lighting circuit is cut out, the effect remained with
undiminished intensity. It will appear elsewhere, that in the absence
of radium and of initial charge in the condenser, the equation
I, CV, where l, for any given ionization is a constant negative
quantity, applies very closely within the limits of measurable V,
values. Hence in the presence of radium in the core of the cylin-
drical fog chamber and a positive charge,
I, + 6007 Nev/(In R,/R,) =GV.
Thus in this case
NV =xd(V —V,)/dt; —N’V'=.'d(—V'—YV,) /dt,
and for the same / =V’, to a first approximation
N+ N’=d(x« In V+’ In V’)yey-/dt,
as before. If the equation for N is integrated and N/«—K,
since J, —CV,, V, being intrinsically negative,
Vse®(V,—VIK) 40K; Vim PV! + VIR) — VIR"
where I’, and I’, are the initial positive and negative potentials.
The constant l’, increases with the strength of the ionization but has
a fixed value for a given ionization.
5. Data: High Ionization: Currents—The tables® investigated
contain the mean potentials ’, the positive and negative logarithmic
currents d(log V’)/dt (apart from the constant), the apparent
nucleation N positive and N’ negative, computed from these data
and additional information as to conduction leakage and effect of
y rays. In most of the cases the corresponding logarithmic cur-
rents due to y rays outside the fog chamber was carefully measured
in the same units, by placing a short hard-rubber rod between the
end ¢ of the aluminum tube, Fig. 1, and the wire leading to the
electrometer. This cuts out the fog chamber but leaves the whole
remaining circuit undisturbed. Similarly the leak value of
d(log V')/dt in the absence of radium and due to mere conduction
of moist parts is always quite negligible. Thus in the data in
* The tables will be removed for brevity, as Figs. 2-4 sufficiently repro-
duce the data.
1909. ] THE CORONAS OF CLOUDY CONDENSATION. 183
question for relative logarithmic currents of the order of .035,
the y ray effect is .oo10, the conduction leakage smaller than .ooot.
The other extreme, 1. e., the value of d(log V)/dt for the freely
falling needle is about .1 in the same units. Hence it follows that
if the needle falls faster than would be quite trustworthy, the
auxiliary capacity selected is too small. The time interval between
observations for V was 4 sec., throughout.
6. The Same: Coronas.—These results (to be given in Figs.
2a and 2) contain the data for the maximum ionizations obtainable
with the radium tubelets I., II., III., [V., V. at my disposal. The
corresponding corona was a large orange-yellow type, representing
(in my former reductions) 506,000 nuclei in the exhausted fog
chamber. I have supposed this to be equivalent to 653,000 when
the fog chamber is at atmospheric pressure, seeing that the coronas
are actually displaced during exhaustion; 1. e., at the maximum
ionization does not coincide in the position with the largest corona
on exhaustion,* but is displaced in the direction of the exhaust
currents. The observation would seem to mean that exhaustion
is more rapid than the reproduction of ions to restock the region
of dilatation. In general this inherent discrepancy of a marked
distribution of ionization increasing from end to end of the fog
chamber is still outstanding. It is partially allowed for since the
observations are made near the middle of the chamber where the
average conditions supervene.
7. The Same: Summary.—The data given in Fig. 2a merely show
the fall of potential in scale readings, in the successive observations
4 seconds apart, for positive and negative charges. Fig. 2 gives the
corresponding positive and negative apparent ionizations. If the
two curves between .8 and 1.2 volts be considered, the mean ioniza-
tion of each is
Apparent positive ions (negative charge), N= 540,000.
Apparent negative ions (positive charge), N’ = 1,164,000.
Total true ionization, N + N’ == 1,704,000.
Total nuclei caught, 650,000.
It will be seen that N + N’ is the true total ionization, positive
*See papers cited; also Science, XXVIIL., p. 26, 1908.
184 BARUS—METHOD OF STANDARDIZING [April 24,
and negative, if 10e==3.4. Only 65/170, or about 38 per cent.,
of this is actually caught in the given fog chamber on exhaustion,
provided the old coronal values are corect.
If, however, it is assumed that negative ions only are caught
Ose
S
pd
Gor
Ga
(ess
during exhaustion in the fog chamber in question, then the value of
the electron would be
10%e = 3.4 K 2.62 K 4 = 4.4 electrostatic units.
The irregularities of the curves, Fig. 2, are due in part to fluctua-
tions of the drift and in part to errors inevitable in derivations so
1909.] THE CORONAS OF CLOUDY CONDENSATION. 185
close together; but such errors necessarily compensated each other
in the mean values.
10. Data: Moderate Ionization: Electrical Currents.——These re-
sults were obtained by placing but one radium tubelet, No. IV., in
the aluminum tube tt’ of the condenser-fog-chamber. The data
were found in the same way as in the above. N=x«d(logV) /dt,
as usual.
Both positive and negative currents were observed in succession
and the true total ionization is N-+ N’ as before. Moreover, the
capacity of the condensers were widely varied, 410 to 1,459 cm.,
without showing serious divergences.
11. The Same: Coronas.—At a fall of pressure of 21 cm. (and
somewhat below) or 66/p=.27, the nucleation was stationary and
equal to N 113,000 in the exhausted fog chamber. At atmos-
pheric pressure therefore 113,000 & 1.37==154,000 nuclei should
have been present. The effect of a charge on the core of the con-
denser did not appreciably diminish the nucleation.
12. The Same: Summary.—tThe successive observations in scale
parts at intervals, 30 seconds apart, are shown in Fig. 3a, the slopes
only being of interest. The apparent values of N are given in Fig. 3.
All the four series show about the same drift, even though taken
many days apart. The condenser effect (excessive rapidity of
needle) may be considered eliminated for capacities greater than
500 cm.
By averaging the ionizations between V =.6 and V=1.24 in
both curves the data found are as follows:
Apparent negative ions, N = 278,000.
Apparent positive ions, N’ = 107,000.
True total ions, N-+N’ = 385,000.
Total nuclei, 180,000.
Hence about 47 per cent. of all the ions were caught on exhaustion,
if the values of u, uv, e, N, inserted, are correct. Supposing that
negative ions only are caught in the above fog chamber, the value
of the electron would be
10%e = 3.4 K 2.14 K $= 3.6 electrostatic units.
186
BARUS—METHOD OF STANDARDIZING
fig. &.
2000 eae
200 cae, fee
7 eae
r 40 7.
[April 24,
1909. ] THE YCORONAS” OF CLOUDY CONDENSATION. 187
13. Data: Small Ionization: Electric Currents——In the next
series of experiments the aluminum tube tt’, Fig. 1, was surrounded
by a lead tube with walls .117 cm. thick, leaving the y rays only
effective and these much reduced in intensity. The data are suffi-
ciently given in the following charts.
14. The Same: Coronas.—The coronas found at a drop of pres-
sure similar to the above 6//f = .300, corresponded in my tables to
46,200 nuclei in the exhausted fog chamber. Hence at atmospheric
pressure there should have been 64,000. The effect of charging the
core was not definite.
15. The Same: Summary.—The drop of potential in scale parts,
in successive intervals 30 cm. apart, isegiven in Fig. 4a, showing how
much slower the negative charges are lost than the positive charges.
The apparent values of N are given in Fig. 4, to which remarks
similar to those already made are applicable. There is the usual
drift and the usual temporary fluctuation.
If the mean data be taken between / = 1.1 and 1.4 volts, the
results are
Apparent positive ions, N’ = 37,000.
Apparent negative ions, N = 98,000.
True total ionization, N + N’ = 135,000.
Total nuclei caught, 60,000.
It follows, then, that about 44 per cent. of the total ionization
computed from 10'°e = 3.4, u and v, is caught on condensation.
If we suppose the negative ions only are caught in the above fog
chamber the electron value is
6x 10" =—— 3:42.20 x. 4 —— 3.0 electrostatic units.
Conclusion.—Supposing the electron value to be 10'°e = 3.4 elec-
trostatic units as before, the normal velocities of the ions in wet air
to be u= 1.37, v1.51 cm./sec., in the volt/cm. field, the coronal
equivalent of the ions caught in the above fog chamber is in the
several cases,
Total ions, 1,700,000, Total nuclei, 38 per cent.
385,000, AZ pet cent.
135,000, 44 per cent.
188 BARUS—METHOD OF STANDARDIZING [April 24,
When N is 1,700,000 the coronas are too diffuse for sharp speci-
fication. If it is assumed that negative ions only are caught, and if
the nucleations corresponding to the coronas seen in the given fog
chamber be taken as developed in my earlier work, then for
N + N’=~1I,700,000, 385,000, 135,000,
the electron values are
10} == 4iAe 31652 ,0,
electrostatic units.
With regard to the two parts of this paper that need revision
the first, the comparison of the computed condenser capacity C’ with
a standard, is a minor matter; but the other, 7. e., the marked dis-
tribution of ionization along the axis of the fog chamber, will need
further inquiry. In the direction of the exhaustion the amount of
ionization may vary in the ratio of more than I to 2, in a fog cham-
ber of about one half meter of length; and this under conditions
where there should apparently be no variations and irrespective of
the production of radiation from within or from outside of the fog
chamber.
Brown UNIVERSITY,
PROVIDENCE, R. I.
THE ELECTROMETRIC MEASUREMENT OF THE VOL-
TAIC POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE, BETWEEN THE
TWO CONDUCTORS OF A CONDENSER, CON-
TAINING A HIGHLY IONIZED MEDIUM.
By CARL BARUS.
(Read April 24, 1909.)
1. Introductory.—The difficulties encountered in the preceding
paper (§ 4), were made the subject of direct investigation by replac-
ing the fog chamber with a metallic cylindrical condenser, the core
of which was an aluminum tube, 50 cm. long and .63 cm. in diameter,
the shell a brass tube, 50 cm. long and 2.1 cm. in diameter, coaxial
with the former. Sealed radium tubelets could be placed within the
aluminum tube, or withdrawn from it. Moreover, either the outer
coat or the core of the condenser could be joined in turn with the
Dolezalek electrometer, the other being put to earth. The conduct-
ing system now appears as follows (Fig. 1), C being the outer coat
or brass shell, 4 the aluminum core and ¢ the radium tubes in the
cylindrical core. Conductors are earthed at e. BB show the
metallic connections with the auxiliary condensers C’, C”. E is one
of the insulated quadrants of the electrometer with the highly
charged needle N, E being virtually also a condenser.
Masel og Veep
a ee
e e
Hig.
A Clark standard cell may be inserted for standardization, but
it is otherwise withdrawn.
Direct experiment showed the self charging tendencies to come
apparantly from the highly charged needle N, as if positive ions were
loged into the conductor EBBA for a positive needle, negative ions
189
190 BARUS—ADJUSTMENT FOR PLANE GRATING [April 24,
for a negative needle. In addition to this however there is a
voltaic difference, aluminum-brass, at AC when radium is in place
and the medium therefore highly ionized. The latter potentials are
usually negligible. These are the chief electromotive forces, the
first very high (150 volts) and in a weakly ionized medium; the
other low (.2 volt) but in an intensely ionized medium: thus they
may produce equal currents. Other voltages such as the room
potential may be operative, but their effect is secondary. If the
capacities C’, C”, are successively removed the electrometer current
increases proportionately, showing its origin to be directed from the
needle toward the insulated or non-earthed pair of quadrants.
If the ‘condenser’ metals are reversed’ (see Fic!'1)) the voltare
couple is reversed. This makes it possible to obtain both the voltaic
contact potential and the ionization in the condenser C, from a pair
of commutated measurements.
2. Theory.—Let V, be the potential at the electrometer, V, the
voltaic potential difference of the two metals of the condenser, V the
potential of the insulated conductor Bb, measured by the electrom-
eter. Let be the hypothetical ionization in the electrometer, N the
(radium) ionization in the condenser (length /, radii R,, R,). Let
C be the total capacity of the systems CBBE. Then
. 6007/ Nev
yam! Be IN gh caeg Beta ZC
i = AV, Vn Gineyee Vv)
where 4 is a constant, « and v the normal velocities of the positive
and negative ions, e the charge of the electron. The needle is posi-
tively charged. This may be written
V=V,=—KV 7.)
where for WV —=0,.K9—0;6or
V =Vye=A(Vr—V)n,
i. e., the current in the electrometer, observed in the absence of
radium, from needle to quadrants. This is directly measurable with
accuracy. It is nearly proportional to V, since V is much within
i per centot V,,.
The integral of this equation is, t being the time,
V =(Ve/ = oa ao
1909.] SIMILAR TO ROWLAND’S METHOD. iS
If now the needle is left positively charged, but the condenser metals
exchanged (commutated), so that the aluminum core is earthed and
the shell put in contact with the electrometer (see figure), the equa-
tion becomes
a OI) Vig ee
Let kx==N/K and x'=WN/K’ where K’ refers to the normal
MElOciny~ Of positive ions, a: Uhen if k= Vo /nl/7.. and kh’ == V./n' VK,
similarly
V =V.(1—kN)e™.
V'=Vi(1 + RN) e-™.
iiitnes potential)” —— Vat }=—=)co.
Vigo iN —Ve, Vel SVN +e
two equations from which both N and V’, may be found, if the
limiting potentials V,, V’, and the electrometer current V are
severally observed. If V’, is not obtainable, it may be computed
from observations at ¢ and t, = 2t, as
Vo=—(2V = V2) /7? and Va — Chr — 1) /V 2:
Here however there is a difficulty as the curves begin with a double
inflection not yet expained. The times ¢,==2t must therefore be
estimated from the observations beyond the double inflections; or
the rearward prolongation of the curve for those observations, to
meet the time axis. The initial tangents may be found in the same
way, but this is not necessary since their values are, respectively,
Viti kN and y(n kN).
3. Data: Origin of the Electrometer Current.—The seat of the
chief electromotive force in the electrometer follows from the follow-
ing data, in which the capacities C, C’, C”, Fig. I, are successively
removed. The currents increase in the same ratio as the reduction
of capacities, E being that of the electrometer. The data are (poten-
tials in scale parts where 1 cm. is equivalent to .0595 volt), V_ being
the fall per second:
Capacities. Vin cm, V,, in Volts,
C+C4+C’+E 14 .0083
C’+C”’ +E a5 .0089
C’ +E 58 0345
E 4.3 256
192 BARUS—ADJUSTMENT FOR PLANE GRATING, [April 24,
The change of voltage throughout the main contours of the curves
is almost a linear variation with the lapse of time, except that at the
beginning the motion is accelerated from rest as usual; for instance:
Time *tisses Oo 4 8) 2) V6 20 24 28 32 Go.) sec
ee | BbGAY NOMI S77) LOM ee 4 US Shes Onciae
a
pat Arabs loreahh
4 |
OLE. 16 oR 48 64 80 96 720
4. Aluminum Tube Charged with Radium Tubelets I.V.: Data.
—The air in the condenser C is now highly ionized and its voltage
becomes appreciable. The data obtained are given in Fig. 2. The
needle is positively charged, thus impelling positive charge toward
the quadrants. In the four series of data observed the aluminum
core of the condenser is twice joined to the electrometer, the
brass shell being put to earth (series 1 and 4) and twice com-
mutated (aluminum to earth series 2 and 3). The results are
identical except that in series 3 the insulation was perhaps better, or
Vq may have changed. The accelerated march of the needle from
rest is obvious in both curves and is thus independent of the sign of
the limiting voltage, / . It may be mere inertia, but it is of less
consequence here because the initial data are not needed in the
following computation.
1909. ] SIMILAR TO ROWLAND’S METHOD. 193
5. Results: Ionization, N. Voltaic Contact Potential Difference
V ..—The equations
Vo =V./N—V ,
Ni Vee
may now be used to compute N and /,. The constants are numer-
ically (all in scale parts, I cm. equivalent to .0595 volt),
K== 20.0 <110°)") Vig —— 3 AS Vg Ae
K’ = 39.7 X 10°, Va.’ =9.3,
Hence
N = 876,000 ions, either positive or negative,
Vie —6.37 cms:, or .376 volts.
* [The drift, Va, which in the above experiments was eliminated by com-
mutation, was eventually traced to a defect in the electrometer. It vanishes
on replacing the given instrument by another. Data since obtained for
Aluminium-Copper and Aluminium-Zince condensers showed
Al-Cu, Vce=.58 volts,
Al-Zn, Ve=.06 volts,
or
Zn-Cu, .52 volts,
a result, however, which varied much with the surfaces, etc.] June, 1900.
Brown UNIVERSITY,
ProvipENCE, R. I.
PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. Ig2 N, PRINTED SEPTEMBER 3, 1909.
THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA OF VARIOUS POTASSIUM,
URANYL, URANOUS AND NEODYMIUM SALTS IN
SOLUTION AND THE ERRECT (OF TEMPERA]
TURE ON THE ABSORPTION (SPECTRA OF
CERTAIN ‘COEORED* SALTS iN
SOLUTION.
(Piates VII. to XIV.)
By HARRY C. JONES ann W. W. STRONG.
(Read April 24, T1909.)
(A report on part of the work on absorption spectra that is being
carried out with the aid of a grant from the Carnegie Institution of Wash-
ington.)
OUTLINE.
I, Experimental Methods.
II. Absorption Spectra of Potassium Salts in Aqueous Solutions.
III. Absorption Spectra of Uranyl Nitrate (under Different Conditions).
(a) In Aqueous Solution.
(b) In the Crystalline State.
(c) As Effected by Dilution.
(d) In Methyl Alcohol.
(e) In Mixtures of Methyl Alcohol and Water.
(f) In Ethyl Alcohol.
(g) As an Anhydrous Salt.
IV. The Absorption Spectrum of Uranyl Bromide, Uranyl Acetate and
Uranyl Sulphate.
(a) Uranyl Bromide in Water.
(b) Uranyl Acetate in Water.
(c) The Uranyl Bands of the Acetate.
(d) Uranyl Sulphate in Water.
V. The Absorption Spectrum of Neodymium Chloride in Glycerol.
VI. The Absorption Spectrum of Uranyl Chloride.
(a) In Water.
(b) As an Anhydrous Salt.
(c) The Characteristic Bands in Water.
(d) As Affected by Calcium and Aluminium Chlorides.
(e) In Methyl Alcohol.
194
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 195
(f) In Methyl Alcohol with Calcium Chloride.
(g) In Methyl Alcohol and Water.
(h) In Ethyl Alcohol.
(7) The Blue-violet Band.
VII. The Absorption Spectrum of Uranous Salts.
VIII. An Example of the Complexity of the Problem of Explaining the
Origin of Spectral Lines and Bands and the Proposed Method of
Attacking this Problem.
IX. Effect of Rise of Temperature on the Absorption Spectra of Certain
Salts in Aqueous Solutions.
(a) Uranous Chloride.
(b) Copper Bromide.
(c) Chromium, Calcium and Aluminium Chlorides.
(d) Uranyl Chloride.
(e) Neodymium Salts.
(f) Erbium Chloride.
X. Summary.
I. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS.
On account of the large number of bands in the absorption
spectra of uranium and the rare earth salts, a study of the absorp-
tion spectra of these salts is more interesting and more fruitful
of results than the study of the absorption spectra of the ordinary
colored salt like those of nickel or copper. The absorption spectra
have been mapped for potassium ferricyanide, potassium ferro-
cyanide, potassium chromate, potassium dichromate, the acetate,
bromide, chloride, nitrate and sulphate of uranyl in water, of
uranyl acetate, nitrate and chloride in methyl alcohol, and of uranyl
nitrate and chloride in ethyl alcohol. Beer’s law has been tested
for these salts as well as the effect of foreign substances on the
absorption spectra. The absorption spectra of two uranous salts,
the chloride and sulphate, have been photographed and the ab-
sorption spectra of neodymium chloride in pure glycerol and in
mixtures of glycerol and water have been studied. In this work
the methods used by Jones and Uhlert and Jones and Anderson?
have in the main been employed.
The investigations on the effect of changes in temperature on the
absorption spectra of solutions have been confined to different con-
centrations of aqueous solutions of the chloride, nitrate, acetate,
*Publication No. 60, Carnegie Institution of Washington.
* Publication No. 110, Carnegie Institution of Washington.
196 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
sulphate and sulphocyanate of cobalt, the chloride, acetate and sul-
plate of nickel, the chloride, sulphate and acetate of chromium,
chrome alum, the nitrate and bromide of copper, uranous chloride,
erbium chloride, the chloride and nitrate of przesodymium, the sul-
phate, acetate, chloride and nitrate of uranyl and the chloride,
bromide and nitrate of neodymium. Spectrograms are made of the
absorption spectra for a given concentration of a salt, keeping the
thickness of layer constant for every 15° between 0° and go° C.
To make a spectrogram light from a ‘Nernst glower and from a
_ spark is allowed to pass through the solution that is being in-
vestigated. It is then focused upon the slit of a spectroscope—and
falling then on a concave grating, the light is spread out into a
spectrum on the film upon which it is photographed. The films used
were made by Wratten and Wainwright of Croyden, England, and
were very uniformly sensitive to light from » 2100 to » 7200.
The sectional diagram (Fig. 1) will make the experimental
arrangement of the apparatus clearer. NV is a Nernst glower which
is arranged to slide along the rod AB. P and P’ are quartz prisms
which are held by a lid L. The prism P is stationary, whereas the
prism P’ can be moved by the travelling carriage E back and forth
through the trough T which contains the solution whose absorption
spectrum is being investigated. AB is so inclined that the optical
length of the light beam from N to P’, P and the concave mirror M@
shall be constant, whatever the length of the solution between P
and P’ may be. The greatest length of path PP’ used was 200 mm.
The hypothenuse faces of P and P’ are backed by air films which
are enclosed by glass plates cemented to the quartz prisms.
Considerable difficulty was experienced in finding a cement that
would adhere to the polished quartz prisms at the higher tempera-
tures. For aqueous solutions baked caoutchouc was found to work
fairly well. D is a brass box holding the trough 7. D is filled with
oil and is placed in a water-bath whose temperature can be varied
between 0° and 90° C. The path of a beam of light is then from
the Nernst glower (NV) or spark to the quartz prism P’. The light
is totally reflected from the hypothenuse face of this prism through
the solution to P. This prism also has its hypothenuse face backed
by an air-film, so that the light is totally reflected upwards to the
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 197
concave speculum mirror at M@. WM focuses the light on the slit of
the Rowland concave grating spectroscope, G being the grating and
C the focal curve of the spectrum. The prism arrangement was
designed by Dr. John A. Anderson.
oe
Lo
Maas
Ij MIA YOUU LLL LL! With
Imates ie
This apparatus was found to work very well for aqueous solu-
tions. Some evaporation took place at the higher temperatures, but
distilled water was added in proper quantity and mixed with the
solution so as to keep the concentration constant. By using troughs
of different lengths it was possible to vary the length of salt solution
through which the light beam passed from I to 200 mm. One
inconvenience was experienced at low temperatures ; moisture would
sometimes condense upon the exposed prism faces. To overcome
this an air blast was directed upon these faces and this helped very
materially to prevent the condensation of moisture.
198 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
II. ABSORPTION SPECTRA OF PoTASsIUM SALTS IN AQUEOUS
SOLUTIONS.
Most potassium salts in solution are colorless, and for this reason
it is considered that the potassium atoms do not themselves absorb
any light in the visible portion of the spectrum. Several colored
potassium salts are known and the color of these is due in some
way to the other atoms in the salt molecules. In the present work
the absorption spectra of potassium ferricyanide, potassium ferro-
cyanide, potassium chromate and potassium dichromate have been
studied.
Using a 3 mm. length of solution of potassium ferricyanide in
water we find that for a normal concentration there is complete
absorption of all the shorter wave-lengths of light beyond 2 4800.
As the concentration is decreased the edge of transmission moves
continually towards the violet. It should be noticed that the
region between complete absorption and complete transmission for
the more concentrated solutions is quite narrow, being less than 40
Angstrém units; thus making solutions of this salt quite good
screens for absorbing light. Continually decreasing the concentra-
tion we reach a 0.0156 normal solution, when a transmission band
begins to appear. For a certain range of concentration there ap-
pears an absorption band in the region 44200. Further decrease in
concentration results in increasing transmission throughout the
violet and ultra-violet. For dilutions greater than 0.00195 normal
there is almost complete transmission throughout the ultra-violet.
Very faint bands appear in the regions AA 2500 to 2600, AA 2950 to
3050 and AA 3200 and 3250.
Several spectrograms were made, keeping the product of con-
centration and depth of solution layer constant. In this case the
spectrograms will be identical if Beer’s law holds. Beer’s law was
found to hold according to this method of testing within the ranges
of concentration over which the spectrum was mapped.
The absorption of aqueous solutions of potassium ferrocyanide
was investigated in the same way. A half-normal solution 3 mm.
deep shows that all light of shorter wave-length than 23950 is
absorbed. Keeping the depth of layer the same, it is found that
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 199
with decrease in concentration the transmission gradually moves
towards the ultra-violet, and for dilutions greater than 0.0078 normal
there is transmission throughout the whole spectrum. Beer’s law
was found to hold.
A 2-normal aqueous solution of potassium chromate 3 mm. in
thickness, shows complete transmission of wave-lengths greater
than 44950. Decreasing the concentration causes the transmission
to move gradually towards the violet and for a 0.01 normal solution
a transmission band appears at 43100, or, in other words, there
appears an absorption band whose center is about 43700. As the
concentration decreases this absorption band fills up, the violet edge
of the transmission band gradually pushes out into the ultra-violet,
and for dilutions greater than 0.0005 normal there is complete
transmission throughout the spectrum. Beer’s law was found to
hold for potassium chromate throughout the above ranges of con-
centration, except in the more concentrated solutions between 2
normal and 0.25 normal.
Potassium dichromate in water was found to have a much
greater absorbing power than the solutions previously described. A
one-third normal concentration absorbed all wave-lengths shorter
than 45350. As the concentration is decreased the transmission
extends farther and farther out into the violet. For a 0.0026 normal
concentration a transmission band appears in the violet, thus giving
an absorption band whose center is about A 3800. As the concen-
tration is further decreased transmission becomes greater and
greater in the violet and ultra-violet, and is practically complete for
a 0.0006 normal concentration. Beer’s law has been tested between
the above ranges of cencentration and has been found to hold.
In photometric measurements of Beer’s law, the equation defin-
ing the quantities to be measured is:
J=J,10-*
J, is the intensity of the light that enters the solution (neglecting
any loss due to reflection), J the intensity of the light as it leaves ©
the solution, c the concentration in gram molecules of the salt per
liter of solution, / the thickness of layer and A a constant if Beer’s
law holds. Strictly speaking the above equation holds for mono-
200 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
chromatic light. For ordinary white light one would have to
integrate this equation over the range of wave-lengths used. The
equation would then have the form
Ag
J=/J, i, e~ Bled,
Jy
The quantity B is called the index of absorption and 4 the molecular
extinction coefficient. If the absorption is proportionately greater
in the more concentrated solutions, then Beer’s law fails and 4
decreases inversely as the concentration.
From photometric measurements Settegast® and Sabatiér* con-
clude that the absorption spectrum of potassium dichromate is the
same as that of chromic acid, and that the absorption spectrum of
potassium chromate is entirely different. This is corroborated by
the present work. Settegast finds that Beer’s law does not hold
for potassium chromate and potassium dichromate, the coefficient 4
decreasing with increasing concentration. Grinbaum® finds the
following values of A and e where e=c/A.
'
Potassium Dichromate.
Value of A. Value of A.
A c = .034 c¢ = .0034
509 62.4 58.0
521 28.7 26.2
538 7.24 6.2
It will be seen that the deviation here from Beer’s law is in the
opposite direction from that of Settegast. Grtinbaum finds that
and therefore A depends on the depth of layer.
An example will be given where the same concentration was used
and different depths of the solution.
A Values of « for c = .0034
25 cm. layer. 12 cm. layer. 5 cm. layer.
521 .0758 0818 .0884
521 0761 .0830 .0897
Our work indicates that Beer’s law holds for all small concentra-
tions and usually the deviations for concentrated solutions is very
5 Wied. Ann., 7, pp. 242-271, 1870.
*C.R.\103, DD. 49-52) TSS:
5 Ann. d. Phys., 12, pp. 1004, IOII, 1903.
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 201
small. Of the potassium salts above described, only potassium
chromate between 2 normal and 0.25 normal showed any consider-
able deviation from Beer’s law, and in this case the absorption of
the concentrated solution was greater than would be expected if
Beer’s law held by about 40 Angstrom units.
The present method is a very good qualitative test of Beer’s law,
and gives the results for each wave-length, whereas most photo-
metric methods only give integrated results over a more or less wide
region of wave-lengths.
III. AssorRPTION SPECTRUM OF URANYL NITRATE UNDER DIFFERENT
CONDITIONS.
There are two groups of uranium salts, the uranyl salts con-
taining the UO, group, and the uranous salts. The uranyl salts in
solution are yellow and usually crystallize from aqueous solu-
tions with a certain amount of water of crystallization; for ex-
ample, at ordinary temperatures uranyl sulphate crystals have the
composition UO,(SO,).3H,O. The uranous salts are intensely
green and are very unstable, oxidizing very easily to the uranyl
condition. | Uranous sulphate crystals have the composition
U(SO,),9H,0.
(a) Uranyl Nitrate in Aqueous Solution.
The spectrum of uranyl nitrate in water is a typical example of
the uranyl salts. Using a depth of solution of 3 mm. its absorp-
tion spectra was investigated between concentrations of 1.5 normal
to 0.0234 normal. For the 1.5 normal solution the absorption con-
sists of a band in the blue-violet and absorption throughout the
ultra-violet portion of the spectrum. As the concentration de-
creases the blue-violet band fills up with transmission, and the
ultra-violet absorption is pushed farther and farther out into the
ultra-violet. The blue-violet band is practically gone at a concen-
tration of 0.5 normal, and there is almost complete transmission
throughout the ultra-violet for concentrations less than 0.02 normal.
During these changes in concentration a large number of bands
about 50 Angstrom units wide make their appearance. Near the
edge of an absorption band these bands are relatively quite clear.
202 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
As the absorption edge recedes from the uranyl bands, the general
transmission is so great as almost to entirely obscure them.
A, Plate I, represents the absorption spectra of an aqueous
solution of uranyl nitrate of different depths of layer. The narrow
and rather weak bands shown here are the uranyl bands. Twelve
of these bands have been photographed. Starting at the band of
longest wave-length they shall be designated by the letters a, b, c, d,
etc. On account of the irregularity of the distribution of light in
the spark spectrum and the small intensity of the uranyl bands, the
Nernst glower was used as the source of light in the ultra-violet,
and long exposures were made. A screen was used that cut out
all wave-lengths greater than 4200. A represents a_ typical
spectrogram of this kind. Starting with the spectrum strip at the
top, the concentrations were 1.5 N, 1.1255 N, 0.75 N, 0.5 N, 0.375
N, 0.25 N, and 0.1875 N. The slit width was 0.08 mm. and the
current through the Nernst glower 0.8 amperes. The spectra of
wave-lengths greater than A 4300 represent the absorption of a
depth of layer of 15 mm.; the spectra of shorter wave-lengths rep-
resent the absorption of a depth of layer of 3mm. The upper
spectrum strip represents then the absorption spectrum of a 1.5
normal solution of uranyl chloride 15 mm. thick, exposure being
made I min. to the Nernst glower. It will be seen that the uranyl
a band comes out very strongly. The screen was then placed in
the path of light and exposure of 5 minutes made to the violet and
ultra-violet beyond 4300; a solution of uranyl nitrate of 1.5
normal concentration and 3 mm. depth of cell being in the path
of the beam of light. This amount of uranyl nitrate absorbed
practically all the light in this region. A very short exposure was
afterwards made to the spark in the region A 2600, in order to get
a comparison spark spectrum in this region, so that the wave-
lengths of the uranyl bands could be measured.
Throughout this work a comparison spark spectrum usually
containing the very strong line 4 2478.8 was photographed on each
spectrum strip. In measuring the uranyl bands all measurements
were made from this line as a standard, and although the absolute
wave-lengths of the uranyl bands may not be correct to within 20
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 203
Angstrém units, yet their relative accuracy is probably correct to
within less than 10 Angstrém units for the finer bands.
The second spectrum strip from the top represents in the long
wave-length end of the spectrum the absorption of a 15 mm. solu-
tion of a 1.125 normal solution of uranyl nitrate exposed 1 min.
to the Nernst glower. The a band appears, although not nearly
as intense as in the spectrum strip above. The region of shorter
wave-lengths beyond 4300 represents the absorption of a 3 mm.
depth of layer of a 1.125 normal concentration exposed 5 min. to
the Nernst glower. A very faint transmission is shown in the
region 43700. The ultra-violet line A 2478.8 is shown in the com-
parison spark spectra. The other spectrum strips were made in
a similar manner, using the concentrations given above.
By this method of exposing two new bands were detected in the
ultra-violet. In aqueous solutions the intensities of the bands are
much the same. In other solvents however and for other uranyl
salts, the relative intensities of the bands change very greatly. In
uranyl nitrate crystals the bands are even more closely related to
each other than in aqueous solutions. The longer the wave-length
of the band the more intense and wider it is as a rule. The posi-
tion of the long wave-length bands in the orthorhombic uranyl
nitrate crystals UOQ,(NO,),6H,O is the same as the position of
the bands for an aqueous solution. The wave-lengths of the
bands are as follows:
a b c d e if g
Water Sol. 4860 4720 4540 4380 4290 4150 4020 Deussen.
( Jones and
Water Sol. 4870 4705 4550 4390 4155 40305 Sirens
Crystals 4870 4705 4500-4565 4405 4275 4170 4050
h i j k l
Water Sol. 3870 3790 3690 Deussen.
é: J Jones and
Water Sol. 3005 3815. °3710 +3605 35154 Strong:
Crystals 3035 3830 (3720?) 3600
In the original film from which 4, Plate I, was made all these
bands except d could be very distinctly seen. The bands of longer
204 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
wave-length are slightly wider. The i band is considerably weaker
than its neighboring bands.
(b) Absorption Spectrum of Uranyl Nitrate Crystals.
In the aqueous solution there is no sign that the bands can be
broken up. In the crystal spectrum this is not the case. The
a band is narrow. The b band is also very narrow, about 15
Angstrom units wide. A very faint band appears about ) 4650.
The ¢ band, on the other hand, is very wide, about 70 Angstrom
units, and is probably double. The d band is about 50 4. u. wide, and
the e band is about 70 Angstrém units wide and appears double. The
f band is the most intense and is about 4o A. u. wide. The bands
g, h, 1 and 7 keep decreasing in intensity respectively. The above
description is of a spectrogram taken of a crystal in Canada balsam,
and of course the width of the bands varies with the time of ex-
posure and various other things. The above spectrogram showed
many details, however, that other spectrograms did not. It will
thus be seen that the a, b, c, d, j and k bands of the solution agree
fairly well with those of the crystal, and that the crystal bands
f, g, h and i are shifted towards the red with reference to the
bands in the aqueous solution.
(c) Effect of Dilution upon the Uranyl Bands.
The effect of dilution on the position and intensity of the blue-
violet, the ultra-violet and the uranyl bands of the acetate, nitrate
and sulphate of uranyl in water was tried. The absorption spectra
of solutions of about 1 normal and 3 mm. depth of cell was photo-
graphed along by the side of the absorption spectra of the same
salts of 0.008 normal concentration and 380 mm. depth of layer.
The absorption consisted of the blue-violet band, the ultra-violet
band and the a, b, c, 7, j7 and k bands. Between the blue-violet and
ultra-violet bands there was the transmission band containing 1, 7
and k. For each of the three salts this transmission band was
much weaker for the dilute solution, whereas in the cases of the
sulphate and nitrate the long wave-length transmission edge of the
blue-violet band was stronger for the more dilute solution. The
opposite was true of the acetate solution. In the dilute solution of
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS: IN’ SOLUTION. 205
the acetate the bands were more intense than for the more concen-
trated solution. There was no noticeable change in the position
of the bands. Neither the intensity nor the position of the uranyl
nitrate or the uranyl sulphate bands was changed by the above
dilution.
A more detailed study was made as to whether Beer’s law holds
for uranyl nitrate and for the other uranyl salts. The method
of taking the spectrograms is the same as that used for the potas-
sium salts.
Beer’s law was found to hold for dilute solutions of uranyl
nitrate in water. When the concentration is greater than .5 normal
the absorption is greater than it should be if Beer’s law held.
(d) Uranyl Nitrate in Methyl Alcohol.
In methyl alcohol the general appearance of the absorption is
very similar to that of the aqueous solution; the blue-violet, the
ultra-violet, and uranyl bands appearing under the same general
conditions that they appear for aqueous solutions. There is a very
marked deviation from Beer’s law for the more concentrated solu-
tions, however; the absorption of concentrated solutions being
greater than it would be if Beer’s law held. The positions of the
bands are quite different from the positions of the uranyl bands
of the aqueous solution, or of the crystals, as shown by the follow-
ing values:
a b c d e f g h 1
A 4930 4760 4610 4455 4325 4190 4070 3965 3855
(e) Uranyl Nitrate in Mixtures of Methyl Alcohol and Water.
In the previous work of Jones and Anderson® it was found that
in some cases (for example neodymium chloride) a salt in water
had a different set of absorption bands compared with the same
salt in another solvent as, e. g., methyl alcohol.
When the salt is dissolved in mixtures of these two solvents,
say methyl alcohol and water, it was found that as the amount of
one solvent, methyl alcohol for instance, decreased the methyl
° Publication No. 110, Carnegie Institution of Washington.
206 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
alcohol bands of the salt decreased in intensity, but did not change
their position in the spectrum. At the same time the water bands
of the salt became more intense. In the present work it is shown
that the uranyl nitrate bands in pure water and in pure methyl
alcohol occupy different positions. The problem to be investigated
is to find out whether in mixtures of water and methyl alcohol, the
uranyl bands will show a gradual shift, or whether the methyl
alcohol uranyl bands and the water bands will both exist together ;
their relative intensities being proportional to the relative amounts
of methyl alcohol and water. It was found that the two sets of
bands exist together and that the methyl alcohol bands decrease in
intensity quite rapidly with increase of water. The blue-violet
band showed marked changes until the amount of water reached
about 20 per cent. In this work the amount of uranyl nitrate in
the path of the light was kept constant, and the only variable was
the relative amounts of methyl alcohol and water. The above
would indicate that uranyl nitrate in water is “ hydrated” and in
methyl alcohol it is “alcoholated.” The above data indicate that
the effect of “hydration” is much more persistent than that of
“ alcoholation.” It is quite possible that this is due to a greater
number of water molecules producing the hydration than there is
methyl alcohol molecules taking part in alcoholation.
(f) Uranyl Nitrate in Ethyl Alcohol.
The absorption of uranyl nitrate in ethyl alcohol was mapped
and the general characteristics were found to be the same as for the
water and methyl alcohol solutions. A new band was found at
dX 5200 which was about 50 Angstrom units wide. All the uranyl
bands were very faint and wide and therefore difficult to measure.
Beer’s law showed deviations similar to those found for the methyl
alcohol solution. On account of the diffuseness of the bands no
spectrograms were made of mixtures of water and ethyl alcohol.
Following are approximately the positions of a few of the bands:
a b c d e i g h 1
X% 5000 4800 4630 4475 4325 4180 4080 3970 3875
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN, SOLUTION. 207
(g) Absorption Spectrum of Anhydrous Uranyl Nitrate.
When it was first discovered that the uranyl nitrate “water”
bands were all shifted to the violet with reference to the bands of
the other uranyl salts in water, as well as with reference to the
uranyl nitrate bands in other solvents, it was thought that possibly
it was more hydrated than the other salts in solution. The uranyl
salts crystallize from water solutions at ordinary temperatures with
the following composition: UO,(NO,),.6H,O, UO,SO,.3H,O,
WOstCHe COO). 2H-O;, and UOlEL.HL©.. Lhis: fact would favor
the supposition that in solution the nitrate might be more hydrated
than the other salts. The fact that the absorption of the aqueous
solution of the nitrate and the crystallized salt was very much the
same as far as the positions of the uranyl bands is concerned, also
seemed to favor this view.
In this connection it was considered important to examine the
absorption spectrum of the anhydrous uranyl nitrate. The salt was
powdered and placed in a closed glass tube just above the slit of
the spectroscope. The light of a Nernst glower was then focused
upon the surface of the salt nearest the slit and an exposure of
about three hours made. In this way we examine light that has
penetrated a short distance into the powder and is then diffusely
reflected.
The absorption spectrum was found to consist of quite a large
number of bands, which seem quite different in many respects from
those of the solution. The following are the approximate wave-
lengths: AA 4800, 4650, 4500, 4420, 4360, 4280, 4180 (broad), 4060
(broad), 3950 (broad), 3820 (broad), 3700 (narrow) and 3600
(narrow). The bands marked broad are from 50 to 60 Angstrom
units wide and the narrow bands about 20 Angstrom units. If the
first band is the a band, then the bands of the anhydrous salts are
to the violet of the corresponding bands of the crystals and of the
solution. If it is the b band the opposite is the case. On account
of the smallness of the intensity of the bands it could not be settled
whether A 4800 is the a or the b band. Further investigation of this
point will be made.
There are two difficulties to the above theory, difficulties for
208 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
which no explanation so far has been suggested. In the work on
the effect of rise of temperature on the absorption spectrum it
was found that the uranyl nitrate bands did not shift to the red.
On the other hand, the uranyl sulphate and uranyl chloride bands
were shifted to the red under the same conditions. (In these cases
aqueous solutions were investigated.) If the uranyl nitrate bands
owe their position to a large amount of hydration it would be ex-
pected that with rise in temperature they would be shifted towards
the red more than the bands of the sulphate and chloride. Another
difficulty is that of the effect of dilution. The greater the dilution
the greater the dissociation, and, therefore, according to the theory
of Arrhenius for very dilute solutions the UO, group should exist
in the ionic condition and the absorption spectrum of all the salts
should be the same, 7. e., the uranyl bands should then occupy the
same positions independent of the kind of salt. No effect of this
kind is to be noticed, as was shown above under the division de-
scribing the effect of dilution. It is intended to use much more
dilute solutions in the future.
IV. THE ABsorRPTION OF URANYL BroMIpE, URANYL ACETATE AND
URANYL SULPHATE.
(a) Absorption Spectrum of Uranyl Bromide in Water.
The absorption spectrum of uranyl bromide in water was
mapped and found to be very similar to that of the nitrate. The
ultra-violet, blue-violet and uranyl bands appear and are affected in
the same manner as the same bands of the nitrate. Beer’s law was
found to hold. The uranyl bands were found to be much wider
and more diffuse than in the case of the aqueous solution of the
nitrate. The following are their approximate positions:
a b c d e i
4880 4720 4560 4450 4280 4160
(b) Uranyl Acetate in Water, Beer’s Law.
A spectogram was made to test whether Beer’s law holds for
an aqueous solution of uranyl acetate between the concentrations
0.25 normal and 0.031 normal. The spectrogram showed that there
was a very great deviation from the law, and in the opposite direc-
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 209
tion to any deviation hitherto found either in this work or in
that of Jones and Anderson or Jones and Uhler. The absorption
of the more dilute solutions was found to be proportionately much
greater than for the more concentrated solutions. A similar run
was made for a solution of the acetate in methyl alcohol and a
deviation from Beer’s law in the same direction was found, although
the amount was not so great in this case.
(c) The Uranyl Bands of the Acetate.
The following table gives the approximate wave-lengths of the
uranyl bands of the acetate in water, in methyl and as the anhydrous
powder.
Bands of Uranyl Acetate.
a b c d é if g h 1
In Water 4910 4740 4505 4455 4310 4160 4070 3970 3830
In Methyl Alcohol 4900 4770 4600 4460 4320 4200 4090
As Anhydrous Salt. 4910 4760 4610 4460 4330 4190 4070 3980
From this table it seems that the positions of the bands of the
acetate under these different conditions is about the same.
(d) Absorption Spectrum of Uranyl Sulphate.
The mapping of the absorption spectrum of uranyl sulphate in
water showed that it was very much like that of the nitrate in
water. As in the case of the nitrate the 7 band was much weaker
than the adjacent bands. Beer’s law was found to hold. The
addition of a large amount of sulphuric acid was found to make
the uranyl bands much sharper, but not to cause them to shift.
Much more work will be done on the effect of strong acids on the
uranyl bands. The following gives the wave-lengths of the sulphate
bands:
a b c d e€ if g h 1 y k l
4900 4740 4580 4460 4330 4200 4070 3070 3850 3740 3630 3530
V. Tue ApsorpTion oF NEODYMIUM CHLORIDE IN GLYCEROL AND
MIXTURES OF GLYCEROL AND WATER.
The absorption spectrum of a glycerol solution of neodymium
chloride is much like that of the aqueous solution in its general
PROC, AMER. PHIL. SOC, XIVIII. 192 0, PRINTED SEPTEMBER 3, I909.
210 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
characteristics, but when proper concentrations are used so as to
bring out the fine bands it is found that the two spectra are entirely
different. For example,‘ the aqueous solution shows a very fine
band at 44274. In the glycerol there is a band that on first sight
appears exactly identical with this 4274 band. However, its wave-
length is about 4287, and it has two extremely fine components on
each side, one at \ 4273 and one at about 4.4300. The same is true
throughout the spectrum.
In general, in mixtures of water and glycerol the appearances
indicate that there are “glycerol” bands and “water” bands and
as the amount of one solvent is increased, so are the bands cor-
responding to this solvent increased in intensity. Herein lies a very
large field for investigation and considerably more work is being
carried on here along these lines. The above described spectrum
of the glycerol solution of neodymium indicates that glycerol has a
a very great influence upon the vibrations of the electrons within
the neodymium atom—and that this is due to a kind of “atmos-
phere” of glycerol about the neodymium atom. Jones and Ander-
son showed that alcohol has a similar effect, and that the “alcohol ”
bands were much less persistent than the water bands. Further
99 66
work is being done upon the relative persistence of “water,” “alco-
hol” and “glycerol” bands; also on the effects of foreign sub-
stances and rise of temperature upon these bands, both in the pure
solvent and for mixtures of solvents.
VI. ABSORPTION SPECTRUM OF URANYL CHLORIDE.
The absorption spectrum of uranyl chloride was mapped tor an
aqueous solution, a methyl alcohol solution, an ethyl alcohol solution,
a mixture of methyl alcohol and water, a mixture of methyl alcohol
and calcium chloride, and a mixture of water and aluminium chloride.
(a) The Absorption Spectrum of Uranyl Chloride in Water.
The absorption spectrum of uranyl chloride in water was found
to be very similar in general to that of the other uranyl salts. The
uranyl bands were less sharp than the bands of the nitrate and sul-
phate in water. The wave-lengths of a few of the bands are as
follows:
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 211
a b c d e if g
4920 4740 4560 4460 4315 4170 4025
(b) Absorption Spectrum of Anhydrous Uranyl Chloride.
The absorption spectrum of the anhydrous uranyl chloride was
photographed in the same way as that of the anhydrous nitrate.
The bands differ considerably from the bands of the aqueous solu-
tion, and one cannot tell very well whether they are identical with
the corresponding a, J, c, etc., bands of the solution or not. Their
wave-lengths are approximately as follows: AA 4950 (narrow), 4860,
4765, 4700, 4615, 4540, 4460, 4320, 4290, 4160, 4050 and 3940.
(c) The Characteristic Bands of Uranyl Chloride.
In addition to the bands already described, uranyl chloride has
several remarkably fine bands in the green. These bands are not
more than 5 Angstrém units wide and were first seen on spectro-
grams taken upon Whatten and Wainwright red sensitive films,
They appear only for aqueous solutions, and the addition of cal-
cium chloride or aluminium chloride causes them to disappear.
They do not appear in alcoholic solutions. Aqueous solutions of
uranyl sulphate show them very faintly. The wave-lengths are
approximately as follows:
NA 5185, 5200, 6000, 6020, 6040 and 6070.
These bands have never hitherto been noticed as absorption
bands. H. Becquerel* gives quite a full set of measurements of the
phosphorescent bands of various uranyl salts at room temperature
and at the temperature of liquid air. Among the bands given for
the double chloride of uranyl and potassium at room temperature
are 4X 6070 to 6040, and AA5220 to 5193. Whether these corre-
spond to the above absorption bands is quite difficult to say. Fur-
ther work is being done in this direction.
(d) Uranyl, Calcium and Aluminium Chlorides in Water.
Spectograms were taken of aqueous solutions of a constant con-
centration of uranyl chloride to which varying amounts of calcium
"C. Rs t. Ot, p. 1252, 1885; pp: 459 and 621, 1907.
212 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
chloride were added. The addition of calcium chloride causes the
ultra-violet, the blue-violet band and the uranyl bands to widen gen-
erally. The effect upon the uranyl bands is however, very small.
The effect of aluminium chloride, however, is very great. The two
narrow and faint bands at 45200 only appear in the pure aqueous
solution of uranyl chloride. The a band in the aqueous solution
is about 60 Angstrém units wide, and is almost as intense as the
band. The addition of aluminium chloride causes the band to be-
come quite narrow, about 25 Angstrém units wide. A slight addi-
tion of alminium chloride decreases the intensity of the band very
considerably. Further increases in the amount of aluminium has
very little effect. The addition of alminium also causes the bands
to shift to the red; the shifts in some instances amounting to 25
Angstr6ém units. The 6 and c bands have their intensity very greatly
increased by the addition of aluminium chloride; and by making
the solution about 2 normal of aluminium chloride these bands are
shifted about 30 Angstrém units to the red compared with the same
bands for the pure uranyl chloride solution. The d, e, f, g and h
bands are also increased in intensity, but are but very slightly
shifted to the red. The d and e bands are widened so that they
practically form a single band.
(e) Absorption Spectrum of Uranyl Chloride in Methyl Alcohol.
In the absorption spectrum of uranyl chloride in methyl alcohol
the a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, 1, and j bands all appear, the b and c bands
being the largest and most intense. The following are the approxi-
mate wave-lengths of the bands:
a b c d e f g h i
Uranyl Chloride in
Methyl Alcohol 4930 4760 4590 4465 4345 4220 4090 3980 3860 3760
Uranyl Nitrate in
Methyl Alcohol 4930 4760 4610 4460 4325 4190 4070 3070 3855
Uranyl Acetate in
Methyl Alcohol 4900 4770 4600 4460 4320 4200 4090
It is seen from the above table that the uranyl bands of these
three salts in alcohol occupy almost exactly the same positions.
1909. ] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 213°
(f) Absorption Spectrum of Uranyl Chloride and Calcium Chloride
im Methyl Alcohol.
In the solution of uranyl chloride in methyl alcohol the d and e
bands are very diffuse, but are entirely separate. By adding cal-
cium chloride a very peculiar phenomenon takes place. The d and e
bands come together and as far as one can tell form a single band.
At the same time the f, g and h bands shift to the red. For a solu-
tion containing a .9 normal solution of calcium chloride one finds
that the b and c bands have practically remained in the same posi-
tion, the d and e bands have merged into one and the f, g, bands
have moved to approximately AA 4260, 4120 and 4oro respectively.
The de band is approximately at A 4420.
(g) Absorption Spectrum of Uranyl Chloride in Methyl Alcohol
and Water.
A spectrogram was made of a solution of uranyl chloride of con-
stant concentration in mixtures of methyl alcohol and water. A
small addition of water causes a considerable decrease in the absorp-
tion power of the uranyl chloride. When the amount of water has
reached about 16 per cent. very little further change is produced by
further increasing the amount of water. The most important effect
of the addition of water is the effect upon the uranyl bands. Fora
pure alcoholic solution the a and b bands appear; the b band being
quite intense. Adding water causes a and b to both decrease in
intensity and apparently to shift towards the violet. A spectrogram
of smaller concentration shows the a, b, c, f, g, h and i bands; the
solution containing 8 per cent. water the 0, c, d, e, f, g, h, 1 and j
bands; the 16 per cent. water solution b, c, d, e, f, g, h,1 and 7; the
24 per cent. aqueous solution shows all these bands greatly weak-
ened, and in solutions containing a greater amount of water prac-
tically only the b and c bands appear, and these are very diffuse.
The general effect upon the positions of the bands is quite remark-
able, the b and c bands apparently being shifted to the violet with
increase of water, whereas the ultra-violet bands appear to be
shifted towards the red.
“214 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
(h) Absorption of Uranyl Chloride in Ethyl Alcohol.
The absorption spectrum of uranylichloride in the ethyl alcohol
shows the uranyl bands quite strongly, although they are less intense
than for the methyl alcohol solution. A very interesting resemblance
has been found for the various uranyl bands of different mixtures.
The absorption spectrum of a solution of uranyl chloride in ethyl
alcohol has been found to be almost the same as that of a methyl
alcohol solution of uranyl chloride containing a 0.9 normal concen-
tration of calcium chloride or an aqueous solution of uranyl chloride
and a 2 normal concentration of aluminium chloride.
The positions of the uranyl bands for the ethyl alcohol solution
was approximately:
a b c d é f g h 1
A 4900 4750 4580 4400 4400 4250 4100 3980 3860
The relation above mentioned comes out much better in comparing
the spectrograms. The values of wave-lengths thus far given does
not bring this out very well on account of the difficulty of making
measurements. Much more work is to be carried on along this line,
and the measurements above given are to be considered as more or
less of a preliminary character.
(1) The Blue-Violet Band.
Under the various changes above noted, 7. e., of changing the
acid radicle, of changing the solvent and of adding foreign sub-
stances, the position at which the blue-violet band faded away was
approximately 44200. This is rather unexpected when we con-
sider the very considerable effects which are produced upon the
finer bands.
VII. ABpsoRPTION SPECTRUM OF URANOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION.
It is quite well known that by reduction the yellow uranyl
salts are changed to the intensely green uranous salts. In the
present work this reduction was accomplished by adding the same
acid to the solution that corresponded to the anion of the salt and
then putting in a metal that would produce a colorless salt.
The absorption spectrum of uranous sulphate and uranous
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 215
chloride in water was found to be very similar. The absorption
of the shorter wave-lengths was complete under the conditions
used. The following are the approximate positions of some of
the bands: A 6700, 6500, 6300, 5480 and 4900. The 6500 band
was the strongest one of all, and upon increasing the depth of cell
this band widened out so as to unite with the bands AA 6700 and
6300, forming an absorption band covering hundreds of Angstrom
units. This is a very characteristic property of many of the
uranous bands, that of widening out so as to include a very large
portion of the spectrum. The uranyl bands do not change in
width very greatly on increasing the depth of cell.
Besides the bands described above uranous chloride shows
bands at AA 4600, 4770 and 4970.
The absorption spectrum of uranous chloride in methyl alcohol
was found to differ very much from that of the aqueous solution.
The bands at AA 4600 and 4780 appeared, closely resembling the
water bands at the same position. The band 4970 in water was
broken up into two bands in methyl alcohol at AA 4930 and 5030.
In the alcohol a very broad band appeared at 45300, which does
not appear at all in the water solution. The band at A 5580 is very
similar to the water band. Weak and broad bands appear at
dA 6150, 6300 and 6480, and a strong band at A6750. As the depth
of the alcoholic solution is increased the widening of the bands
is very different from the widening of the bands of the aqueous
solution.
The absorption spectrum of a mixture of calcium chloride and
uranyl chloride in water was found to be very similar to that of
the pure uranyl water solution. Much further work along the
above lines is being carried on.
VIII. AN EXAMPLE OF THE COMPLEXITY OF THE PROBLEM OF
EXPLAINING THE ORIGIN OF SPECTRAL LINES AND BANDS
AND THE ProposepD MeEtTHop oF ATTACK.
It is a fact that investigations upon the spectral emission and
absorption of bodies has been far less fruitful in extending our
knowledge of the structure of the atom than had been expected.
216 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
This is largely owing to the almost infinite complexity of the struc-
ture of the atom and our general ignorance of the forces that exist
there. Probably the best known example is that of the uranyl
group which we have been describing. Let us consider the spectral
vibrations that can be produced by components that exist or may
be produced from the apparently simple UO, group: (1) We have
the absorption spectrum described above. At low temperatures
most of these bands break up into much finer bands. (2) The
uranyl salts under various methods of excitation emit a phosphor-
escent spectrum of a large number of rather fine bands throughout
the visible region of the spectrum. It is quite possible that this
spectrum is intimately connected with that of the absorption spec-
trum. (3) We have the absorption spectrum of the uranous salts
which has been described above. This spectrum has been probably
caused by the change of valency of the uranium atom. Uranium
is known to form quite a large number of oxides and it is quite
possible that for each valency of the uranium we have a character-
istic spectrum. (This also is being investigated.) It is also quite
probable that at low temperatures those spectra would consist of
quite fine bands. (4) We have the spark spectrum and the ab-
sorption spectrum of oxygen, and (5) that of ozone, which bears
no relation to that of oxygen. (6) There is the exceedingly com-
plex spark spectrum of uranium consisting of thousands of fine
lines and also (7) the complex arc spectra. From radioactive ex-
periments it is known that uranium is continually breaking down into
ionium. (8) Ionium possesses the properties of a chemical atom
and most likely has a spectrum of its own. This would make
eight spectra. (9) Ionium breaks down into the radium and radium
has a very characteristic spark spectrum, as does also (10) the
radium emanation. During the various radioactive transforma-
tions several a products are emitted with a velocity almost as
great as that of light. It is probable that these particles are mov-
ing with very great velocities in the uranium atom under ordinary
conditions. (11) The a particles are known to be charged helium
atoms and therefore under proper excitation would give the helium
spectrum. The radium emanation breaks down into Radium A,
B, C, D, Eand F. These products behave like chemical elements
1909.) OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 217
and probably have characteristic spectra. (12) The final product is
lead, *which has a very complex spark and arc spectra. During
these transformations several electrons have been thrown off from
the various products with enormous velocities. In a very large
number of the above spectrum lines the Zeeman effect indicates the
presencé of negative electrons and charged doublets.
We thus see what an extremely complex system UO, must be
and it might seem almost hopeless to entangle the mystery of its
various spectra. At present we know that the arc and spark
spectra problem is very complex and that we have very few methods
of producing any changes in it. Practically the only method of
changing the frequency of these vibrations is by applying a very
powerful magnetic field or great pressure and these changes in the
frequency are very small. One very important result, however,
has been accomplished by Kayser, Runge, Wood and others. This
work consists in separating spectrum lines into various series. A
series of lines are those whose intensity and Zeeman effect vary
in the same way when the conditions outside the atom are changed.
The work of Wood is very important and shows that spectrum
lines are due to different systems of vibrators inside the atom.
By using monochromatic light of different wave-lengths he has been
able to excite diffirent series of lines which constitute altogether
the fluorescent spectrum of the element.
Present theories of the atom usually regard the electrons and
other vibrators that are the sources of arc and spark lines as being
far within the atom and as affected by external physical conditions
only under very special circumstances. Stark believes that these
electrons may rotate in circular orbits, the locus of the centers of
these orbits being a closed curve, say a circle. This system will
be equivalent to a positive or negative charge according to the
sense of rotation of these electrons. These electrons we will call
ring electrons. Supposing these systems to be positive charges,
it will require electrons to neutralize these charges. Several of
these neutralizing electrons may be in the outer parts of the atom
and under certain conditions might be knocked off from the atom.
These easily removable electrons will be called “ valency ” electrons,
of con-
’
and can exist under different conditions of “ looseness’
218 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
nection with the atom. Most of the neutralizing electrons will
probably lie far within the atom. For instance, we would expect
that in the uranium atom the charged helium atoms are neutralized
by negative electrons.
Our theory is that the finer absorption bands of such salts as
neodymium, erbium and uranium are due to vibrations of these
neutralizing electrons, and that the forces acting upon these are
considerably different from those acting on the ring electrons,
which, in many cases, give a normal Zeeman effect. It is probable
that these neutralizing electrons play the greatest role in the optical
properties of bodies, such as the properties determining the index
of refraction, the extinction coefficient, etc.
Usually the equation of motion of such an electron is given by
an equation like the following when a light wave of an electric
field Ecos pt is passing by it:
m a +2 2 + nx = EF cos ft.
where m is the total mass (electromagnetic and material) of the
electron, x - dv/dt is the damping or frictional term and n2r is the
quasielastic force. It is an experimental fact as shown by the
above work and the work of other investigators, that x and n? are
not only functions of the electron and the atom, but that they are
also functions of the physical and chemical conditions existing in
the neighborhood of the atom.
On the other hand, the effect on « and nm? for a ring electron,
when external physical and chemical conditions are changed, is
very small. It is for this reason, and the probable fact that there
are relatively few neutralizing electrons, that we believe that much
greater progress can be made in determining some of the properties
and constitution of various interatomic systems of atoms and
molecules by the study of the absorption spectra of uranium and
neodymium than by a study of the arc or spark spectra of the same.
The method of attacking the above problem will be to study the
effect on the spectra of a body produced by changing the physical
and chemical conditions about the light absorbers or emitters within
as wide ranges as possible. Some of the possible changes that
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 219
can be made are as follows: Take for instance the’ uranyl group
UO,. We can find the effect upon the absorption bands produced
(1) by diluting the solution, (2) by changing the acid radicle to
which the uranyl group is united, (3) by changing the solvent and
using mixtures of solvents, (4) by adding other salts (like alumin-
ium chloride), or (5) by adding acids of the same kind, as that of
the salt of the uranyl group. The effect of adding foreign salts
and acids at the same time and then varying the solvent, or the
temperature, can also be tried. In this way a very large number
of very interesting things can be tested. In most of these changes
Ic will be kept constant.
In the above examples the temperature (7), the external pressure
(8), the electric: field (9) and the magnetic field (10) can be
changed between wide limits. The latter effect is a very important
one. For example, in aqueous solution neodymium salts give a
large number of fine bands, in glycerol there are quite a number of
new bands replacing the “water” bands, and in the alcohols there
are various “alcohol” bands. At low temperatures these bands
become very fine and it is quite possible to detect the Zeeman effect.
Now it seems quite probable that a “glycerol”? band and an
“alcohol” band that seem to replace each other as the solvent is
changed are both due to the same vibrator. If the Zeeman effect
is the same in both cases it would be a strong argument in favor of
the above theory. A case that will soon be described is very im-
portant. It was found that certain neodymium lines in a pure water
solution did not have their wave-length changed when the tempera-
ture was changed from 0° to 90°. If, however, calcium chloride
was added, then on raising the temperature the above bands were
shifted to the red. A very interesting and important investigation
is whether the Zeeman effect on this band would be affected by the
presence of bodies like calcium chloride.
To be compared with the above changes are changes in the
absorption spectra of the crystals of the salt (11) as affected by
water of crystallization, or by the presence of foreign substances, or
as affected by the polarization (12) or direction of passage of light
through the crystal. The absorption spectra (13) of the anhydrous
powder at different temperatures, etc., should be found. The
220 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
phosphorescent spectrum (14) should be studied in this connection,
especially as affected by the mode of stimulation (X-rays, cathode
rays, heating or monochromatic light of different wave-lengths).
The temperature, electric or magnetic field could be changed about
the phosphorescing body. The effect of change of state (15)
should be tried if this is possible, also any possible changes of
valency of the atoms (16) composing the body investigated. We
shall attack the problem from all of these standpoints.
After correlating the data obtained by the above named in-
vestigations it is pretty certain that it will be possible to take each
vibrator and trace the effects produced upon it by the above changes.
It is also quite certain that we shall also know something of the
nature of the vibrating system and the part that it plays in that
complex body we call the atom. We shall now describe a few
results obtained by changing the concentration and temperature of a
solution of the chemical compound whose absorption spectrum we
are studying.
IX. THE EFFrect oF RISE IN TEMPERATURE ON, THE ABSORPTION
SPECTRUM OF CERTAIN SALTS IN AQUEOUS SOLUTION.
(a) Uranous Chloride (B, Plate VII.).
To a normal solution of uranyl chloride in water was added a
small amount of hydrochloric acid and zinc. The production of
hydrogen reduced the uranyl to the uranous state. The same can
be done in some cases by simply passing hydrogen gas through the
uranyl solution. The solution was placed in the glass trough and a
temperature run made as in the usual manner. The thickness of
layer was I mm. The length of exposure was 50 sec. to the
Nernst glower and 4 mins. to the spark, the current through the
glower being 0.8 amperes and the slit width 0.20 mm. Starting
with the strip nearest the comparison scale the temperatures were
8°, 17°, 33°, 48°, 62° and 73°. An exposure was also made at
80° which is not shown in the spectrogram B.
At 8° a mist formed on the prisms and for this reason the spec-
trum film taken at this temperature is much underexposed and the
bands appear wider than at the higher temperatures. At this tem-
1909. ] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 221
perature there is complete absorption of the shorter wave-lengths to
A 3650. A blue-violet absorption extends between A 4050 and A 4450.
Following this band are three strong bands of about equal intensity
and each almost 100 Angstrém units wide. Their wave-lengths are
approximately AA 4590, 4760 and 4970. Following is a band at
X 5500, a wide band from A6400 to A6630 and a rather narrow
band at 2.6740.
The absorption does not change very greatly until a temperature
of 60° is reached. Above this temperature the increase in absorp-
tion is quite rapid as the temperature rises. At 73° the ultra-violet
band has widened to A 3800, the blue-violet band covers the region
from A4050 to A5000. The bands Ad 4600, 4770 and 4980 at 8°
have shifted slightly to the red with rise of temperature.
None of the other bands seem to shift to the red at all and
the broadening seems to be quite symmetrical. The band at A 5500
has become about twice as wide as it was at the lower temperatures
and the two red bands have merged into one band running from
46350 to A6800. Between 73° and 80° the absorption increases
very greatly. All short wave-lengths are absorbed up to A 5050.
The band in the green runs from 45450 to \ 5600 and the band in
the red has also widened very gfeatly, extending from 26200 to
d 6800.
(b) Copper Bromide (A and B, Plate VIII.).
The two spectrograms showing the absorption spectra of copper
bromide in water for various temperatures were made for different
concentrations of the salt. A gives the absorption of a 2.06 normal
solution I mm. thick and B the absorption of a 0.25 normal solution
8 mm. thick. The time of exposure to the Nernst glower was 2 mins.
(current 0.8 amperes and slit width 0.20 mm.) and to the spark
6 mins. Starting with the strip nearest the comparison scale the
temperatures at which exposures were made for A were 6°, 17°,
Boerandiac sia fom BOP. 17°. 30",, 460°) 50°,.71-, and-35°.
As the spectrograms show, the effect of change of temperature
on the absorption spectrum is very marked. Above 45° the concen-
trated solution did not transmit enough light to affect the photo-
graphic film.
2a, JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
(c) Chromium, Calcium and Aluminium Chlorides (A and B,
Plate TX):
A, Plate IX., represents a spectrogram showing the effect of rise
of temperature on an aqueous solution of chromium and aluminium
chlorides. The concentration of the chromium chloride was 0.125
normal, and of the aluminium chloride 2.28 normal. The depth of
layer wasgmm. The length of exposure to the Nernst glower was
4 mins. (current 0.8 amperes and slit width .20 mm.) and to the
spark 6 mins. Starting with the strip adjacent to the comparison
scale)the temperatures were 6, 192307 ,,51 7,00, andor 1
The most marked effect of the aluminium chloride was the pro-
duction of a very pronounced unsymmetrical broadening, which does
not occur when a pure aqueous solution of chromium chloride is
heated. At 6° the ultra-violet band extends to A 3000, at 81° to
A 3300, a much greater widening than takes place for a chromium
chloride solution in water. At 6° the blue-violet band extends from
4100 to A 4600 and the yellow band from 5800 to 46200. Not
only do the red sides of the blue-violet and yellow bands widen
out enormously towards the red, but the short wave-length edges
of these bands actually move towards the red. This effect is much
more pronounced in the changes of temperature from 51° to 66°
and from 66° to 81°. At 81° the blue-violet band extends from
A 4150 to 45050 and the yellow band from 5900 throughout the
remaining portion of the spectrum, as far as the film is sensitive.
The fine chromium bands in the red do not appear.
B, Plate IX., is a spectrogram, giving the absorption spectrum
of a .125 normal concentration of chromium choride and a 3.45
normal concentration of calcium chloride in water at different
temperatures. The length of the solution was 9 mm., the length of
the exposures to the Nernst glower were for 5 min. and to the spark
for 6 min. The current through the glower was 0.8 amperes and
the slit width 0.20 mm. Starting with the strip adjacent to the
comparison scale the temperatures at which the exposures were
Made wereiO:, TOC) 20 nM 5 eelo4y and iGO a
The effect of rise of temperature upon the absorption spectrum
of a mixture of chromium chloride and calcium chloride is very
similar to the effect on the mixture of chromium chloride and
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 223
aluminium chloride. The blue-violet and the yellow bands widen
unsymmetrically and the short wave-length edges of these bands
apparently moves towards the red at the higher temperatures.
At 6° the ultra-violet band extends to A 2800, the blue-violet band
from A 4000 to 44400 and the yellow band from A 5600 to A 6100.
At 64° the ultra-violet band extends to » 3100, the blue-violet band
from 4000 to A4600 and the yellow band from A 5650 to A 6300.
At 80° the ultra-violet band extends to A 3250, the blue-violet band
from \ 3950 to X 5000 and the yellow band from 45700 throughout
the red end of the spectrum as far as the film is sensitive.
(d) Uranyl Chloride (A and B, Plate X.).
A spectrogram (A, Plate X.) was*made of the absorption
spectrum of a normal aqueous solution of uranyl chloride, the depth
of cell being 3 mm. Exposures were made to the Nernst glower for
go sec., current 0.8 amperes and slit width 0.20 mm. The time of
exposure to the spark was 6 min. Starting from the comparison
spectrum the temperatures were 6°, 18°, 34°, 52°, 68° and 82°.
At 8° the ultra-violet band extended to 3550, the blue-violet
band from 4000 to 44450. The bands a, b and ¢ appeared, but
the a band is very faint. The wave-lengths of the b and c¢ bands
were AA 4565 and 4725.
At 82° the ultra-violet band extends to 43700, and the blue-
violet band from A 3950 to 44600. At this temperature only the b
band appears,—a being very weak and c being completely merged
into the blue-violet absorption band. The b band is located at
» 4755.
A spectrogram, B, Plate X., was made of a uranyl chloride
water solution 0.0156 normal concentration and a depth of layer of
196 mm. Exposures were made to the Nernst gower for 30 sec.,
current 0.8 amperes and slit width 0.20 mm. No exposures were
made to the spark except for comparison spectra. Starting with the
numbered scale the temperatures were 6°, 18°, 29°, 44°, 59°, 71°
and 79°.
For this concentration there is a very slight temperature effect.
There is a very faint transmission band between the ultra-violet and
blue-violet bands. This is extremely faint and is practically un-
224 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
affected by temperature. The blue-violet band widened slightly
with rise in temperature. The uranyl bands in the concentrated
solution were much stronger and wider than in the dilute solution.
(e) Neodymium Salts.
A spectrogram (A, Plate XI.) of the absorption spectrum as
affected by change of temperature was made of neodymium chloride
solution in water, the concentration being 3.4 normal and the depth
of layer 12 mm. The length of exposure was 2 min. to the Nernst
glower, current 0.8 amperes; slit width .20 mm. The time of ex-
posure to the spark was 6 min. Starting with the strip nearest the
numbered scale the temperatures were 11°, 22°, 33°, 45°, 50°, 73°
and 85°.
An absorption band appears at about 2970 for the 11° tempera-
ture, a very strong band from d 3250 to 43285 and an adjacent
band from ) 3285 to 43310. At 11° a very narrow and feeble
transmission band separates these two bands. At 85° the trans-
mission band has weakened very much. At 11° a very strong
band lies between 3490 and 23580. The band A 4274 is about 8
Angstrém units wide. An extremely narrow band appears at A 4297,
d 4306 and 24324. At A 4234 is a wider and rather diffuse band, it
being about 12 Angstr6m units wide. Bands at 11° lie between
NA 4415 and 4470, AA 4580 and 4650, AA 4665 and 4710, AA 4740 and
4775, AN 4815 and 4835, and the very wide bands AA 5010 and 5300
and AA 5665 and 5935. Weak bands are located at 4645, A 4800,
5320, 16235, 16255, '6280, A6305 and A6380. Rather diffuse
bands appear at AA 6780 and 6840, at AO850 and from A 6870 to
d 6920.
The effect of rise of temperature from 11° to 85° is quite
noticeable, although it is not great. In the ultra-violet there is a
slight increase in the general absorption. The band AA 3285 and
3310 widens slightly. The band AA 3490-3580 at 11° has widened
so that at 85° it extends from A 3450 to A 3600. The band at AA 4415
and 4470 has widened but little. The group of bands from 4600
to 4800 have also widened but little. The faint diffuse bands
dA 4645 and 4800 have practically disappeared. The bands AA 5010
and 5300 and \A 5665 and 5935 at 11° have widened at 85° to
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 225
XX 5010 and 5350 ahd AA 5660 and 5985. The widening of the latter
band is distinctly unsymmetrical. The existence of the band A 5320
causes the band A 5010 to A 5300 to widen unsymmetrically.
The bands in the region A 6300 become less sharp as the tempera-
ture rises. At 11° there was considerable transmission in the region
6850. At 85°, however, this transmission disappears and there is
practically complete absorption from 26760 to 46920. The very
sharp bands AA 4282, 4300, 4310, 4322 and 4343 do not appear to
change very much with change in temperature. On the strip taken
at 73° these bands appear sharper than on any of the other strips.
A spectrogram (5, Plate XI.) showing the effect of rise in tem-
perature was made on a neodymium chloride solution in water of
c.17 normal concentration and a depth of layer of 196 mm. The
amount of neodymium chloride in the path of the light is approxi-
mately the same as in the spectrogram, showing the effect of tem-
perature upon a 3.4 normal concentration and a depth of cell of 12
mm. In this case the temperatures were 5°, 16°, 28°, 42°, 59°, 72°
and 82°. Exposures were made to the Nernst glower for 3 mm.
current 0.8 amperes and slit width 0.20 mm. Fach strip was ex-
posed to the spark for 6 mm. The purpose of making this spec-
trogram was to find the effect of concentration of a salt upon the
changes produced by change in temperature.
A description of the bands at 5° and 82° will be given. Any
change between these two temperatures that takes place is a gradual
one. Transmission begins at 42600. Bands appear between dd 3250
and 3300 and AA 3455 and 3575. The band 4274 is much sharper
and narrower than for the more concentrated solution. The nu-
merous fine bands in the region 4.4300 are very faint. The bands
dA 4420 to 4460, AA 4600 to 4630, 44645, AA 4680 to 4705, AX 4745
to 4770 and 4820 have rather diffuse edges. Wide bands appear
from 45020 to 5290 and from 25685 to 5920. Diffuse bands
are located at 45310, A6810 and A6go00. The group in the region
6300 appear, but they are extremely faint.
At 82° the general absorption has increased in the ultra-violet
and has reached to about 2800. It will be noticed here that the
effect of rise in temperature is greater upon this general ultra-violet
PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. 192 P, PRINTED SEPTEMBER 7, 1909.
226 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
absorption in the dilute solution, than it is for the concentrated solu-
tion previously described.
The band AA 3455 to 3575 at 5° has widened slightly, having the
limits A 3445 and 3580 at 82°, the widening being about 15
Angstrom units. This band in the concentrated solution widened 60
Angstrom units. Practically no effect of temperature is to be
noticed upon the bands from A 4200 to X 4900 with rise in tempera-
ture. At the higher temperatures the bands are slightly more
diffuse, but this change is very small. The band XA 5020 to 5290 at
5° has widened to AA 5015 and 5285, about ro Angstrém units. The
corresponding widening for the concentrated solution was approxi-
mately 50 Angstrom units, although it must be noted that in the
more concentrated solution this widening was mostly due to the
increased absorption of the band \ 5310 at the higher temperatures.
The band 25685 to 45920 at 5° has widened to AA 5775 and 5930,
about 20 Angstrém units, compared with a widening of 55 Angstrom
units for the more concentrated solutions. None of the other bands
show any appreciable change with change in temperature.
A spectrogram (A, Plate XII.) was made showing the effect of
temperature upon the absorption spectrum of a 1.66 normal aqueous
solution of neodymium bromide, the depth of layer being 6 mm.
An exposure of 4 mm. was made to the Nernst glower, at .8 amperes
and a slit width of 0.20 mm. The length of exposure to the spark
was 6 mins. The temperatures of exposure, starting with the strip
adjacent to the comparison spark, were 4°, 20°, 36°, 50°, 68° and
(eles
At 4° there is complete absorption in the ultra-violet up to
2600. A broad absorption band appears at A 2660 to » 2800 and
from 2950 to A 3060. These absorption bands appear with a more
or less general absorption. Bands appear at Ad 3460, 3500 and 3540.
The band at 4274 is weak. Weak and diffuse bands occur at
AA 4440, 4630, 4695, 4760, 4825, 5095, 5260, 6810 and 6900. Wider
bands are located at AA 5116 to 5140, AA 5200 to 5240 and AA5710
to 5850.
At 83° the spectrum is almost exactly the same as at 4°. The
ultra-violet absorption is complete up to A3050. The bands at
43500 have increased in width slightly and the band A4274 is
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 227
_—a
slightly broader. The bands that have widened appreciably are
dA 5195 to 5260 and AA 5700 to 5880. The change in the absorption
is greatest when the temperature is changed from 68° to 83°. Up
to 68° there is practically no change in the absorption spectrum at all.
A spectrogram (B, Plate XII.) showing the effect of temperature
was made, using an aqueous solution of .055 normal concentration
of neodymium bromide, the depth of the layer being 197.4 mm.
This spectrogram was made to compare with that taken with a 1.66
normal concentration of the same salt and a depth of layer of 6 mm.
The exposures to the Nernst glower lasted 90 sec. in this case,
current 0.8 amperes and slit width of 0.20 mm. The length of ex-
posure to the spark was 6 mins. Starting with the strip nearest to
the comparison scale the temperatures of the solution were 5°, 16°,
207,42",55),.08 and 84>.
At 5° there is practically complete transmission of light between
d 3400 and 2600, no ultra-violet bands appearing, as was the case
for the more concentrated solution. The bands AA 4445, 4693, 4760,
4825 and 5095 were somewhat sharper than they were in the con-
centrated solutions. The two largest bands extended from 25200
to 45250 and from A5710 to 5850. As in the case of the more
concentrated solution, so here, the greatest change in the absorption
took place in the change from 68° to 84°. The ultra-violet absorp-
tion increased up to A2900. The bands at A 3500 became consider-
ably stronger, but they widened very little. The bands AA 4445,
4693, 4760 and 4825 are somewhat weaker than at 5°. The wide
bands remained practically as wide as at 5°, 45200 to 5250 and
d 5705 to 5870. This indicates a widening of about 25 Angstrom
units for the latter band. For the more concentrated solution the
widening of these two bands was 25 and 40 Angstrém units re-
spectively. It is thus seen that in the more concentrated solutions
the bands widen more with rise in temperature than they do in the
less concentrated solutions. At 42° in the dilute solution there ap-
pears a narrow band at A6710. This increases in intensity with
rise in temperature. This band does not appear at all in the con-
centrated solution.
A spectrogram (A, Plate XIII.) was made of neodymium chlo-
ride and calcium chloride in water. Exposures.were made for 30 sec.
228 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
to the Nernst glower, the current being 0.8 amperes and the slit
width 0.20 mm. The length of exposure to the spark was 4 mins.
Starting with the strip nearest the numbered scale the temperatures
were6", 177, 21°40, 03) \7as andie2=.
The general effect of the addition of calcium chloride is to make
all the bands hazier, and to increase the transmission throughout the
region of the band. At 6° there is a slight transmission throughout
the ultra-violet portion of the spectrum. As the temperature is
raised this general transmission is decreased, and at 82° practically
no light passes through the solution of shorter wave-length than
2800. Sharp bands occur at A 3464, 43500, A 3535, 44276 and
weak diffuse bands at ’ 4295, 44305, 44340, 4445, 4620, 4695,
i 4760, 44825, A5095, A5130, A5225, A5260, A5320, A5710, to
5860, 6245, XO810 and A 6go0.
At 82° the bands in the A 3500 region are slightly more intense
than at 6°. Practically all the bands from A 4200 to 5200 have be-
come much weaker at the higher temperature. This is especially
true of the band \ 4276, its intensity being less than half what it is
at 6°. Most of the bands are shifted to the red with reference to the
same bands at 6°. For instance, A 5095 is shifted 5 Angstrém units
towards the red. The bands 4695, 44760 and 24825 are all
shifted to the red at the higher temperature, and especially A 4825,
the shift in thise case amounting to 5 Angstrom units. In the case
of these bands the shift is not an apparent one due to unsymmetrical
broadening, for in this instance there is no broadening at all.
The band from A5710 to A5860 at 6° has widened very unsym-
metrically and has the limits 45710 to 45920. The short wave-
length side is quite sharp and its position is practically independent
of the temperature. The long wave-length edge is quite broad and
recedes quite rapidly towards the red as the temperature is raised.
The bands in the red AA 6810 and 6900 grow fainter and fainter
with rise in temperature, and have practically disappeared at 82°.
The band A 6245 is very weak at 6° and has disappeared at about 60°.
It will thus be seen that not only does the presence of calcium
chloride modify greatly the absorption of neodymium chloride, but
that it changes the effects due to temperature very fundamentally.
In pure neodymium chloride practically no bands decrease in in-
1909.] OF VARIOUS SAETS IN SOLUTION: 229
tensity with rise in temperature, and at present no shift has been
detected. When calcium chloride is added to the solution most of
the bands decrease in intensity with rise in temperature and several
are shifted towards the red at the same time. Several bands dis-
appear. Moreover, the band XA 6800 to 6900, although it widens,
this widening is entirely on the red side, whereas for the pure
neodymium chloride solution this widening always takes place on
both sides of the band.
A spectrogram (B, Plate XIII.) was made to show the effect of
change in temperature upon a 2.15 normal aqueous solution of
neodymium nitrate. The length of layer was 3 mm. The exposures
were for 40 sec. to the Nernst glower, current 0.8 amperes, slit
width .20 mm. The length of exposure to the spark was 6 mins.
Starting with the strip nearest the comparison spark the tempera-
Gines.wiere 41/17, 20, 42 565 7 and Sac.
The changes in the spectrum due to this change in temperature
of 80° was very slight. The NO, band extends to about » 3250 at
4°, and to about A 3280 at 84°. The bands at A 3500 became con-
siderably wider and their edges'more diffuse at the higher tempera-
tures. At the lower temperatures fine bands appear at XA 5210, 5225
and 5240. At 84° these bands all merge into a single band. The
red band extends from 45705 to 5860 at 4°. The band at A 5820 is
very faint at the lower temperatures. At 84° it is unrecognizable,
At this temperature the red band extends from 45700 to 5880.
The widening of this band for the concentrated solution is somewhat
greater than for the dilute solution, but the effect of concentration
is very slight. This is to be expected since the effect of temperature
itself is so very minute.
A spectrogram (A, Plate XIV.) was made of an aqueous solu-
tion of neodymium bromide 1.66 normal concentration and 54.6 mm.
depth of cell. The exposures were 3 mins. to the Nernst glower and
6 mins. to the spark. The current in the Nernst glower was 0.8
amperes and the slit width 0.20 mm. Starting with the strip nearest
the comparison scale the temperatures were 6°, 20°, 33°, 47°, 62°,
735 and 82°.
The effect of rise in temperature upon the absorption spectra
of this salt was quite marked; practically all of the bands broaden-
230 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
ing and becoming more intense. At 6° the ultra-violet absorption
extended to 43600. At 82° it had advanced to 3800. Very nar-
row and fine bands appear at A4186, 44300, 44308, 4345, 6240,
6265, 6290, 6305, and much broader bands at X6380 and A6740.
Wide bands occur at from AA 4390 to 4480, AA 4550 to 4850, AA 4990
to 5340, AA 5650 to 5950 and AX 6760 to 6930, at 6°. At 82° these
bands have the following limits respectively : AA 4380 to 4500, AA 4540
to 4910, AA 4960 to 5370, AA 5620 to 5990 and AA 6730 to 6960.
(f) Erbium Chloride.
A spectrogram (B, Plate XIV.) was made to show the effect of
rise in temperature upon the absorption spectrum of a solution of
erbium chloride. For this purpose a 0.94 normal solution of erbium
was used and the depth of layer was 48 mm. The solution probably
contained a considerable number of impurities, so that in fact the
amount of erbium was quite small. The absorption spectrum was
found to change but little with rise in temperature, thus indicating
a dilute solution. Exposures were made for 30 sec. to the Nernst
glower and 4 mins. to the spark. The current through the glower
was 0.8 amperes and the slit width 0.20 mm. Starting with the
spectrum nearest the comparison scale the temperatures were 7°,
ns 120" HAO, 60° ZO, and Sor
At 70° the ultra-violet is absorbed to A 3950. As the temperature
is raised the ultra-violet absorption increases, and at 80° it reaches
d 3150. Bands from 20 to 40 Angstrém units wide occur at A 3235,
3510, 43640 and A 3785. These bands are slightly wider at 80°,
but as for all the other erbium bands this widening is very small.
Weak and narrow bands appear at AA4165, 4425, 4458, 4500
(strong), 4535, 4540, 4555, 4580, 4685, 4750 (30 A. u. wide), 4810,
4840, 4855, 4870 (strong and 20 A. u. wide), and 4920, » 4920 lies
alongside of a fuzzy band extending from 4 4910 to » 4950.
After these comes a rather wide band which for a shorter length
of layer would most likely be broken up into a number of much
finer bands. This band extends from A 5190 to A5250. At A5217
there runs a narrow sharp line through the fuzzier and wider band.
Broad (about 30 A. u. wide) and very faint bands are located at
456030 and 25760. For greater concentrations these would prob-
1909.] OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 231
ably show as finer bands. The band at 6540 is much more
diffuse on the red than on the violet side; this possibly being due to
a component that is not separated at this temperature. Other bands
are located at AN 5365, 5380, 5425, 5445, 5505, 6410, 6440, 6495 and
6690.
The general effect of rise in temperature here is to cause the
lines to become slightly fuzzier and to show more of a “ washed
out’? appearance. No shift due to rise in temperature was noticed.
Throughout all the previous work the wave-lengths were read
directly from a scale. This scale was made so as to give the wave-
lengths in Angstr6m units directly. It was found in the measure-
ments that the Seed films did not correspond to the Wratten and
Wainwright films, when the same spark spectra on the two kinds
of films were placed beside one another. This was probably due
to different shrinkage of the two kinds of films on fixing, washing
and drying. For this reason the wave-length measurements are not
intended to be absolutely correct but only relatively so. All the
temperature work was done with Wratten and Wainwright films. The
relative measurements of fine bands for any spectrogram are prob-
ably correct to within a few Angstrom units.
X. SUMMARY.
The absorption spectra of the uranyl salts contain a series of
bands in the blue and violet. Twelve of these bands can usually
be detected for each salt. Starting from the blue end of the series
the bands are designated by the letters a, b, c, etc. These bands
are usually diffuse and from 30 to 50 Angstrom units wide.
The uranyl bands of uranyl nitrate in water are all farther to the
violet than the uranyl bands of any other salt investigated, or of
uranyl nitrate in other solvents.
The uranyl absorption bands of crystals of uranyl nitrate agree
with the absorption bands of an aqueous solution of the nitrate,
with the exception of the f, g, / and i bands; these latter being
shifted to the red in the crystal.
Dilution within the ranges studied does not affect the position
of the uranyl bands. Theoretically, all the uranyl salts in water
232 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
should give the bands of the same wave-lengths for very dilute
solutions.
The uranyl bands of the nitrate in methyl alcohol are all shifted
to the red about 50 Angstroém units, with reference to the bands in
water. Mixtures of water and methyl alcohol show that we have
both sets of bands existing for the same solution, the “water”
bands increasing in intensity as the amount of water increases. The
water bands are the more persistent. This indicates the existence
of a hydrate and an alcoholate of the uranyl group. In ethyl
alcohol the a, b, c and d bands are shifted to the red with reference
to the methyl alcohol bands. The other bands appear to have the
same positions as the methyl alcohol bands.
The absorption spectrum of the anhydrous salt is very complex
and the bands could not be recognized.
The bands of uranyl bromide in water, of uranyl acetate in
water and methyl alcohol, and also of the anhydrous salt, are ap-
proximately of the same wave-lengths, differing but slightly from
the wave-lengths of the uranyl nitrate bands of an aqueous solution.
The bands of uranyl sulphate in water are all shifted towards
the red about 50 Angstr6m units, with reference to the uranyl
nitrate bands in water. For both the sulphate and nitrate in water
the bands are very much alike. The 7 band is very weak in both
cases.
Uranyl chloride bands of an aqueous solution are shifted to the
red with reference to the uranyl nitrate bands of an alcoholic solu-
tion. The addition of calcium chloride or aluminium chloride is
found to produce very marked effects upon the uranyl chloride
bands. The addition of sufficient aluminium chloride to a water
solution of uranyl chloride, or of calcium chloride to a methyl
alcohol solution of uranyl chloride is found to cause the d and e
bands to come together, so as to form a single wide band, and to
cause the other uranyl bands to shift so that the whole resulting
series of bands is almost identical with the series of bands of an
ethyl alcohol solution of uranyl chloride. The effect of adding
foreign substances also greatly modifies the intensity of the bands.
An example of this difference of action is the effect of adding
aluminium chloride to an aqueous solution of uranyl chloride. The
1909.] ' OF VARIOUS SALTS IN SOLUTION. 233
a and b bands are affected entirely differently ; the a band being very
much reduced in intensity and made narrower, whereas the b band
becomes very much stronger and wider.
A new set of fine bands in the green has been discovered in the
absorption spectrum of an aqueous solution of uranyl chloride.
These only appear for pure water solutions; a small amount of
aluminium or calcium chloride causing them to vanish. They do
not appear for methyl or ethyl alcohol solutions, and for no other
uranyl salt except very faintly for the sulphate.
The absorption spectrum of several uranous salts has been
photographed. The spectrum is entirely different from that of
the uranyl compounds. The absorption spectra of uranous chloride
in methyl alcohol and in water were found to be very different.
The absorption spectrum of neodymium chloride in glycerol was
found to be entirely different from that of the salt in water.
Mixtures of water and glycerol seem to indicate the existence of
both sets of bands in the same solution. The “glycerol” bands are
more persistent with reference to water bands than “alcohol” bands
are. Much more work along this line is contemplated.
Rise in temperature has been found in general to cause an in-
crease in the amount of absorption, and to cause the absorption
bands to widen. This widening of the bands may or may not
be symmetrical.
Some of the absorption bands of uranous chloride widen very
rapidly with rise in temperature. Other bands do not widen so
rapidly, and seem to be slightly shifted towards the red.
In solutions containing a single salt, it has invariably been found
that the bands widen with rise in temperature, and that this widen-
ing is greater, the greater the concentration of the solution.
The uranyl bands of aqueous solutions of the chloride and sul-
phate of uranyl are shifted towards the red with rise in temperature.
The intensity of the uranyl bands does not seem greatly modified by
changes in temperature.
The effect of rise in temperature on the absorption syectrum of
a solution of a salt containing calcium or aluminium chloride is
very peculiar. The bands usually broaden very unsymmetrically,
234 JONES-STRONG—THE ABSORPTION SPECTRA [April 24,
and in all cases investigated, the widening has been on the longer
wave-length edge. A tyipcal example is shown in Plate III.
Rise in temperature causes the neodymium bands to widen
slightly, but no shift of the bands has been noticed. However,
when calcium chloride has been added to the neodymium solution,
a rise of temperature causes many of the bands to become much less
intense, and also causes some of the bands to shift to the red. In
the recent work of Becquerel and others it is quite possible that the
presence of various foreign bodies in the crystals along with the
neodymium may have a very great influence upon the absorption
spectrum.
All the above conclusions must be understood to be limited to the
conditions and within the ranges described in the earlier parts of
this paper.
PuHysICAL CHEMICAL LABORATORY,
Jouns Hopkins UNIVERSITY,
May, 19009.
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Ba PAOUAKES >; HEIR ;CAUSES AND) ERREECES:
By EDMUND OTIS HOVEY.
(Read April 24, 1909.)
The occurrence of three earthquakes in the western hemisphere
within the space of nine months in 1906-1907, all of which were
attended with disastrous effects upon human life and property, at-
tracted as never before the attention of the world, and particularly
of the United States, and focused interest upon the science of
seismology in a manner calculated to advance materially the study
of movements and other physical changes in the earth’s crust. San
Francisco, in April, 1906, Valparaiso, in August, 1906, and Kingston,
in January 1907, attracted wide notice, but the disaster that over-
whelmed Messina, Reggio and vicinity on December 28, 1908,
capped the climax, and sufficient reason is apparent for the universal
interest now prevailing, one manifestation of which is the present
symposium. The thesis of the seismologists is that the chain of
earthquake observatories that have been established in the past
decade and a half should be extended and united into a network
of stations covering the globe, sufficiently, at least, to furnish a com-
plete record of the important vibrations propagated through the
earth, indicate their places of origin and provide data for more
satisfactory theories as to their causes.
Great earthquakes rank with volcanic eruptions as being the
most terrifying of all natural phenomena. Usually coming with no
recognized warning, often happening in the night, extremely indefi-
nite as to source, extent and duration, they fill the mind of the human
observer with the horror of utter helplessness. They have been
far more destructive to human life and property than volcanic
eruptions have been, for we have the earthquake shocks of Sicily,
1693, with 60,000 victims; Yeddo, Japan, 1703 (200,000) ; Peking,
1731 (100,000) ; Lisbon, 1755 (60,000) ; Calabria, 1783 (60,000)
and Messina-Reggio, 1908 (200,000); besides many others, to
235
236 HOVEY—EARTHQUAKES: [April 24,
compare with the volcanic outbursts of Krakatoa, 1883, destroying
36,500 victims; Vesuvius, 1663 (18,000) ; Mt. Pelé, 1902 (29,000)
and the Soufriére of St. Vincent, 1902 (1,400), other historic
eruptions having entailed comparatively small loss of life.
Although earthquakes have been recorded frequently throughout
all historic time, seismology is one of the youngest of the sciences
—it is still in its formative state. Scientific interest in the subject
has indeed not been lacking, but real edvance was retarded by the
fact that, up to the latter part of the nineteenth century, the causes
of the phenomena were sought without rather than within the earth
itself. Geology was not seriously called upon for aid in solving
the problems.
The modern science of seismology is generally held to have had
its beginning with the publication, in 1862, of Robert Mallet’s great
book upon the so-called Neapolitan, or better Basilicata, earth-
quake of 1857. Mallet, however, approached his task with the pre-
conceived idea that earthquakes were always caused by subterranean
explosions, and his observations and deductions were warped ac-
cordinigly. The science received its real start from Eduard Suess,
when he published in 1874" his brilliant generalization showing the
intimate association of more than forty Austrian earthquakes with
the already well-known Kamp, Thermen and Murz fault lines near
Vienna and postulated crustal movements as an important cause of
seismic disturbances, thus combatting the “centrum” theory of
Mallet and others. Suess followed this paper with a still more im-
portant paper? the next year along the same lines showing the inti-
mate relation of the great earthquakes of southern Italy and Sicily
to the fault zones of the region. Impetus was added by the publi-
cation of the illuminating treatise of Rudolph Hoernes® in 1878, in
which earthquakes were first definitely classified into (1) those due
to the collapse of the roofs of cavities within the earth’s crust, (2)
those resulting from explosions connected with volcanic eruptions
and (3) tectonic quakes, or those caused by crustal movements
along fault planes or due to other effects of the action of mountain-
1“ Die Erdbeben Nieder-Oesterreichs,’ Denkschr. k. Akad. Wiss., Wien,
XOX A Dth we ps Om 1874:
2“ Die Erdbeben des siidlichen Italien,” id., XXXIV., Abth. I, p. 1, 1875.
3 Jahrbuch d. k. k. Geol. Reichsanstalt, XXVIII., p. 387, Wien, 1878.
1909.] THEIR. CAUSES AND EFFECTS. 237
building forces. Many others in Europe, Japan and America have
contributed to the advance of seismology, but particular mention
should be made of the services of Professor John Milne, of England,
whose long residence in Japan and intimate study of the earthquake
phenomena of that and other uneasy regions have enabled him to
contribute more than any other one person to the advance of the
new science.
The perfecting of instruments for the purpose of recording
movements of every kind in the surface of the earth has vastly
extended our knowledge of the character of earth vibrations and
enhanced the value of deductions affecting the theory of earth-
quakes. The instrumental study of earthquakes by means of seis-
inographs, however, can hardly be said to antedate the year 1892,
but within the past decade and a half the number of fully equipped
earthquake stations has vastly increased, the growth having been
considerably accelerated through the interest aroused by the dis-
asters of the last three years. There are now in Great Britain and
her colonies fifty seismographic stations equipped with the same
type of instrument, while in all the world there are more than two
hundred stations equipped with instruments capable of recording
world-shaking earthquakes. More than half of these stations are
in Europe.
No large part of the surface of the globe seems to be entirely
stable, but certain regions or zones are much more liable than others
to the occurrence of earthquakes. If we study a map of the world
upon which their location has been plotted, we find in the eastern
hemisphere a broad belt of seismic activity extending from west to
east through the Mediterranean Sea, Persia, the southern Himalayas
and the Sumatra-Java group of islands. A branch zone stretches
from the southern end of the Caspian Sea northeastward half way
across Asia. This is de Montessus de Ballore’s “ Alps-Caucasus-
Himalayas” belt and it has furnished more than 53 per cent. of
recorded shocks. A seismic belt practically encircles the Pacific
Ocean, the principal points in it being the Japanese Archipelago,
Alaska, California, Southern Mexico and Central America and the
*F. de Montessus de Ballore, “Les tremblements de terre,” p. 24, Paris,
1906.
238 HOVEY—EARTHQUAKES: [April 24,
northern and southern Andes. This “ Circum-Pacific” or ‘“ Andes-
Japan-Malay ” belt has given 41 per cent. of the quakes. In the
western hemisphere in addition to a part of the circum-Pacific belt,
there are the West India Islands and the mountains of Venezuela
forming a seismic zone. Earthquakes mostly of volcanic origin have
visited many of the islands of the South Seas. The major portions
of Africa and South ‘America remain blank upon such a map,
probably because little is known about their seismicity.
We are in the habit of thinking of eastern North America as a
region free from earthquake shocks. The impression, however, is
erroneous, since New England has experienced about 250 recorded
shocks since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and there have been
at least four great earthquakes in the eastern half of the continent
within the past two and one half centuries, one on the fifth of Feb-
ruary, 1663, which affected the St. Lawrence Valley over an area
more than six hundred miles long and three hundred miles wide as
described in the “ Jesuit Relations.”® In 1811-1812 heavy quakes
occurred in the central part of the Mississippi Valley, accompanied
with considerable subsidence fifty miles south of the junction of the
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Strong shocks continued for more
than a year and evidence of the sinking still persists in lakes and
submerged trees. The southeastern part of the United States was
the center of an earthquake shock January 4, 1843, the waves of
which were felt at points at least eight hundred miles apart. In
1886 occurred the Charleston earthquake, an event still fresh in the
minds of most of our population.
As to earthquakes of the several classes, the falling in of the
roof of a buried cavity causes slight shocks. Quakes of this kind
have often been reported from certain parts of Switzerland, the
Tyrol and elsewhere, but all have been local in character. It seems
certain too that the blocks falling in the caverns of southern Indiana
and Kentucky produced vibrations sensible on the surface, but re-
ports of such have not come under my eye.
Earthquakes arising from volcanic explosions or associated with
eruptions form a much more important subdivision. Until within
*W. H. Hobbs, “ Earthquakes,” p. 315, New York, 1908.
°H. D. Rogers, Am. Jour. Sci., I., XLv., 342, 1843.
1909.] THEIR CAUSES AND EFFECTS. 239
J
thirty-five years, indeed, it was the general belief that volcanic earth-
quakes were by far the most numerous and destructive of all. This
idea controlled and vitiated Mallet’s work, but it is now known to
be erroneous, for although it is true that earthquake zones coincide
in part with belts of volcanic activity, shocks are more frequent and
more severe in non-volcanic regions. The severest quakes of South
America have not happened around the great volcanoes; the shocks
of California are evidently independent of the now extinct or at
any rate dormant volcanoes of the Cascade Range; the recent
(1899) great earthquakes of Alaska were in the vicinity of Yakutat
Bay, at a long distance from the active vents of the Aleutian Islands
or any recent volcanicity ; the earthquakes of Japan are most numer-
ous and severe in the non-volcanic parts of the islands; the great
disasters of the Caribbean Sea have occurred in Jamaica and at
Caracas, hundreds of miles from Mt. Pelé and St. Vincent’s Sou-
fricre, and have not been contemporaneous with any eruptions.
On the other hand, some of the most violent of historic volcanic
eruptions have been unattended by severe earthquakes or have given
rise to shocks of merely local significance. The Island of Mar-
tinique in the French West Indies lies within a markedly seismic
zone, but the great eruptive activity of 1902-1903 was free from
earthquake shocks. This fact is of particular interest, because the
eruptions were of the most highly explosive character. Although,
however, no vibrations were felt upon the island of Martinique and
no subterranean noises were heard there, dull sounds like the boom-
ing of distant cannon were heard the morning of the great eruption
of May 8, 1902, at Caracas, Venezuela, 450 miles distant, south-
west, where people feared that a naval battle was in progress off
their coast. Similar booming was reported from St. Kitts, 200
miles northwest of Martinique and from other regions. I myself
was on the island of St. Vincent, 100 miles due south of Pelé when
the great eruption of June 6, 1902, occurred, and I felt several dull
thuds, as if some heavy object had fallen in a neighboring room.
The noises seemed to come from beneath the ground, and they
were due, in all probability, to subterranean explosions or to the
rushing of lava into underground cavities, somewhat on the prini-
ciple perhaps of the water hammer. On the island of St. Vincent
240 HOVEY—EARTHQUAKES: [April 24,
some observers, indeed, had noted, an increase of seismic shocks for
a year or more before the volcano burst into violent eruption in
May, 1902. The eruption itself, however, was free from earth-
quakes, except apparently for the quivering of the mountain due to
the uprush of steam and ejecta through the conduit, just as hap-
pens in the chimney of a fire engine under full blast. The chattering
vibrations thus set up in the volcano shook a narrow strip of recent
beach formation from the west base of the mountain, where the
declivity of the shore is considerable.
Vesuvius being the volcano that has been most continually and
thoroughly under observation throughout its known history, we
naturally look to its records for light upon the relation between
volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. When this old center, which
was not known to the ancients as a volcano, renewed its activity in
the year 79, the first phase was a series of earth shocks which in-
creased in frequency and severity until the afternoon of August 24,
when the eruption actually began. The ground is said to have
rocked to and fro like the sea, but we read of no great damage as
resulting therefrom even in Pompeii and Herculaneum at the very
base of the mountain. The outbreak of 1631 occurred after centuries
of repose and was heralded by a half year of earthquakes and terrific
noises in the interior of the mountain. This history has been re-
peated again and again in greater or less degree, particularly when
the eruptions have been of the explosive kind. According to the
report of A. Lacroix, violent earth movements shook the cone of
Vesuvius during the great eruption of April, 1906, and were felt
throughout much of the surrounding region. Whatever effects have
been produced have been local in extent and comparatively light
in degree.
The eruptions of Etna usually have been accompanied by the
formation of great fissures in the upper part of the cone, and the
opening of these fissures has been accompanied by severe vibra-
tions of the surface of the mountain, as has been vividly portrayed
by Silvestri in his account of the eruption of 1879, but the shocks
seldom affect the mainland of Calabria across the narrow Strait
of Messina. Stromboli, the “Lighthouse of the Mediterranean,”
—
1909.] THEIR CAUSES AND EFFECTS: 241
often shakes its island, but the disturbances are rarely felt in nearby
Sicily.
The most violent of all recorded volcanic explosions is that which
took place in the Strait of Sunda, August 26-27, 1883, when the
volcano of Krakatoa was blown to pieces. This outburst destroyed
half the mountain and left soundings of 160 fathoms where part of
the cone had formerly stood. It produced sea waves that affected
tide gauges half way around the world; air waves that traveled
three times around the globe before they ceased to be distinguish-
able ; and it threw dust into the air to such a height that it remained
suspended for months, but the earthquake shocks produced were
strictly local in character and were scarcely felt at Batavia, 90
miles from the crater.
Another of the great explosions of modern times was that of
July 15, 1888, when the Japanese volcano Bandai-san, extinct for a
thousand years, burst into sudden eruption. In the immediate
vicinity of the mountain a moderately severe earthquake shock last-
ing about twenty seconds was felt at half past seven in the morning.
This was soon followed by additional shocks which culminated
when the explosion occurred at the surface, but none was felt
severely beyond a limited area.
Even the eruptions of the Hawaiian volcanoes, Kilauea and
Mauna Loa, which are the types of the class of “quiet volcanoes,”
have sometimes been accompanied by severe local earthquakes. Many
eruptions of Mauna Loa, indeed, have been recorded of which the
first indication to the inhabitants of the town of Hilo only a few
miles away has been the light seen at night reflected in the clouds
from the streams of flowing lava. On March 27, 1868, however,
there began a series of earthquakes on the southern flanks of the
mountain which increased in frequency and intensity for a week
and culminated in one of the most severe eruptions known in the
history of the volcano, during which a great fissure opened, dis-
charging vast quantities of lava that flowed to the sea.
In the words of Dr. Titus Coan,’ who was on the island at the
time:
7Am. Jour. Sci., I1., xtvi1., 107, July, 1868.
PROC, AMER, PHIL, SOC, XLVIII. 192 Q, PRINTED SEPTEMBER 7, 1909.
242 HOVEY—EARTHQUAKES: [April 24,
Meanwhile the whole island trembled and shook. Day and night the
throbbing and quaking were nearly continuous. No one attempted to count
the sudden jars and prolonged throes, so rapid was their succession. And
even during the intervals between the quakes, the ground and all objects
upon it seemed to quiver like the surface of a boiling pot. The quaking
was most fearful in Kau. . . . The shocks and quiverings cintinued with
different degrees of intensity until Thursday, the second inst. [April] ...
when, at 4 P. M., a shock occurred which was absolutely terrific. All over
Kau and Hilo the earth was rent in a thousand places, opening cracks and
fissures from an inch to many feet in width, throwing over stone-walls,
prostrating trees, breaking down banks and precipices, demolishing nearly
all stone churches and dwellings, and filling the people with consternation.
This shock lasted about three minutes.
Mr. F. S. Lyman® writes as follows of his experiences at Kau
during this disturbance:
First the earth swayed to and fro from north to south, then from east
' to west, then round and round, up and down, and finally in every imagin-
able direction, for several minutes, everything crashing around and the
trees thrashing as if torn by a hurricane, and there was a sound as of a
mighty rushing wind. It was impossible to stand; we had to sit on the
ground, bracing with hands and feet to keep from being rolled over.
The villages on the shore were swept away by the great wave that rushed
upon the land immediately after the earthquake.
Some observers estimated that more than 2,000 shocks occurred
during this period of disturbance. In spite of the violence of this
earthquake on Mauna Loa, it was quite local in extent. No damage
was done in the northern half of Hawaii even by the heavy shock of
April 2. This shock was felt distinctly on the island of Maui, 110
miles distant, for 90 seconds, shaking furniture, pictures and walls
and causing small sea waves. At Oahu, 210 miles from the cen-
trum, the shocks were slight, and though they occurred in the middle
of the afternoon, most of the inhabitants of Honolulu were not
aware that an earthquake had occurred.
From the human standpoint, the most disastrous of the earth-
quakes assigned to volcanic causes is that which occurred at Casa-
micciola on the Island of Ischia, July 28, 1883. When it took place
there was a large assemblage of people in the theater, which was of
stone and collapsed under the shock, killing most of the audience.
Only one house in the whole town was left standing and it is esti-
mated that about 1,900 people lost their lives in the disaster. In
® Am. Jour. Sci., I., xtvt., 110, July, 1868.
1909.] THEIRVCAUSHS ANDI ERRECTS: 243
Naples, however, only twenty-two miles away, the shock was felt
by but few people, and the seismographs in the observatory on Mt.
Vesuvius did not record it at all, though the instruments at Rome
and Florence showed the passage of some extremely light vibrations.
The depth of the focus has been calculated at about a half mile and
Casamicciola received the vertical shock. The latest eruption of
Mte. Epomeo, Ischia’s great volcano, occurred in 1302.
Many other instances of volcanic earthquakes might be cited, but
perhaps none within historic times have been more severe than those
which have been mentioned. All show extremely restricted areas
of disturbance, a fact which indicates a comparatively slight depth
for the origin of the shocks and a far smaller expenditure of total
energy than is developed in connection with the great tectonic
quakes. It must not be overlooked, however, that some earth-
quakes, the origin of which is doubtful, may rightly be assigned to a
volcanic origin. Furthermore, the intrusion during past geologic
time of countless dikes, sills and laccoliths of igneous rock, the
occurrence of which is known from exposures all over the world,
must have been accompanied by sudden dislocations, causing earth-
quakes. Such quakes would be of combined volcanic and tectonic
origin. It cannot be asserted positively that they are not occurring
at the present epoch.
This brings me now to the consideration of the third and most
important class of volcanoes, viz., tectonic quakes, or those which
are caused by dislocations in the earth’s rock crust due to the action
of mountain-building forces. Mountain regions of high geological
antiquity, like the Appalachian protaxis and the Scandinavian
Peninsula, have had time to adjust themselves to the crustal strains
due to their elevation and hence are rarely the scene of great earth-
quake shocks. In the younger mountain systems, however, such as
the Apennines, the Japanese archipelago, Central America and those
of California, where young strata abut unconformably against old,
the adjustment to strains is still going forward, the cumulative
effect being followed by sudden and irregular release of pressure,
producing the vibrations which we know as earthquakes. Some of
these tectonic quakes have sensibly affected enormous areas. That
of Lisbon, 1755, was felt from northern Africa on the south to
244 HOVEY—EARTHQUAKES: [April 24,
Scandinavia on the north and to the east coast of North America
on the west, an area estimated by Baron von Humboldt at four
times that of the whole of Europe. The Andean earthquake of
1868 shook severely a strip of country 2,000 miles long. The
modern seismographs have given pronounced records of earth-
quakes whose origin was certainly not less than 8,000 miles distant—
truly world-shaking events.
The depth of the origin of the shocks below the surface of the
earth probably never exceeds thirty geographical miles and usually
is not more than from five to fifteen miles. The geological struc-
ture of the region through which the earth waves are propagated
affects the rate of advance of the same earthquake in different direc-
tions and produces many changes in the direction of movement and
great differences in the destruction wrought upon buildings.
Heavy earthquake shocks are transmitted through the earth at a
greater velocity than light ones and the same shock shows different
rates in different materials.
In the case of distant quakes three disturbances are recorded
instrumentally. The first set of waves to arrive comes on a direct
course through the earth’s mass; the second set comes along the
shortest route on the surface, while the third set arrives by the
opposite and longest surface route. The last are comparatively
feeble, and they may arrive three and one half hours behind the
second set. The first set of waves, those coming through the earth,
are propagated with the greatest velocity, which is practically uni-
form and is about ten kilometers (6% miles) per second. These
direct waves have been shown by Marvin to be longitudinal in
character, and this character combined with their velocity is sup-
posed to cause them to give out the musical sounds which are the
premonitory rumblings of an earthquake. The second set are the
surface waves due to the “ principal portion”’ of the earthquake, and
the increased use of delicate instruments of measurement has led to
the acceptance of 3.3 km. per second as their normal rate of propaga-
tion. The determination of these various velocities leads to the
conclusion that the crust of the earth is practically uniform in con-
stitution to a depth of at least thirty miles.
The duration of an earthquake and the number of shocks in it
1909.] THEIR CAUSES AND EFFECTS. 245
vary indefinitely. The Charleston, San Francisco, Kingston and
many other quakes lasted only from thirty to forty seconds. Milne
states that the average duration of 250 earthquakes of moderate
intensity recorded by instruments in Tokyo between 1885 and 1801
was 118 seconds. The first shocks are almost always succeeded by
after shocks which may continue for weeks, months or even years.
It has not been possible yet to determine the periodicity of
shocks or to predict with any degree of accuracy the time of the
occurrence of an earthquake. Some earthquake regions are subject
to frequent shocks, while others experience them only at long
intervals. The frequency of earthquakes, considering those of all
amplitudes, is not generally realized. The globe, indeed, may be
said hardly ever to be free from seismic disturbances of some kind
somewhere, since the average of all recorded shocks, according to
de Montessus de Ballore, is more than fifteen per day, and there are
between fifty and sixty heavy shocks per year. The bare enumer-
ation by this author of those occurring in 1903 alone fills a book of
six hundred tabulated pages, and he has compiled the data and
plotted the position of 159,781 earthquakes that have been recorded
up to the end of 1903.
At the same time that important quakes are the result of tectonic
movements in the earth’s crust, they may themselves be the causes
of more or less important changes in the surface of the earth.
Sharp waves passing through mountain regions have been known to
produce land slides, shatter rocks, displace larger or smaller seg-
ments of cliffs, open fissures in the soil or cause subsidence in
alluvial regions. Springs, brooks, rivers and lakes have been
formed, altered or obliterated as a result of earthquake action.
Great earthquakes have usually produced important sea waves caus-
ing much destruction along the coast and, sometimes, permanent
changes due to erosion and transportation of material.
Several scales for the purpose of indicating the severity of an
earthquake shock have been proposed. The one most commonly
employed is known as the Rossi-Forel scale, which distinguishes
ten degrees of intensity according to the effects produced upon
human observers and structures. Another widely used scale is that
which has been devised by Professor G. Mercalli. This likewise
246 HOVEY—EARTHQUAKES: [April 24,
consists of ten degrees of intensity and depends upon human ob-
servers and the effects upon buildings for the classification of a
shock.
On account of the vagueness of these series, the influence of the
personal equation of the observer in placing shocks in accordance
with them and the over-importance attached by them to effects upon
human property, other scales have been proposed, the best of which
are based upon instrumental records. Difficulties in using the
latter, however, arise through the small number of instruments
actually at work, and the Rossi-Forel and Mercalli scales are still
found very useful, particularly in the collection of data.
I shall close what I have to say regarding the subject of the
afternoon by brief descriptions with illustrations of the earthquakes
that occurred at Charleston, S. C., in 1886, at San Francisco in
1906, at Kingston, Jamaica, in 1907, and at Messina in 1908.
THE CHARLESTON EARTHQUAKE.
The most important earthquake occurring in the eastern part
of North America during the historic period was that which de-
vastated Charleston, South Carolina, in 1886. This was investigated
under the auspices of the United States Geological Survey by Major
Clarence E. Dutton and his assistants, their report being published
in the Ninth Annual Report of the survey.
About eight o’clock in the morning of August 27, 1886, the
villagers of Summerville, 22 miles northwest of Charleston, S. C.,
were startled by the noise and shock of what was at first thought to
be a heavy blast or a boiler explosion. The sound seemed very
near, but no cause for it was learned that day. Around five o’clock
the next morning the noise and shock came again and more heavily,
and the idea that an earthquake had occurred became general and
was strengthened by light tremors that were felt that day and the
next. The affair seemed then to be over, for nothing unusual was
heard or felt on the thirtieth and during daylight of the thirty-first.
The noises or shocks were felt by very few people in the city of
Charleston, but they were the premonitions of the great earthquake
1909.] THEIR CAUSES AND EFFECTS. 247
that began at 9:15 P. M. of the thirty-first. In the words of Dr.
G. E. Manigault, a resident of Charleston, as quoted by Dutton :°
Although the shocks at Summerville excited uneasiness in Charleston,
no one was prepared for what followed. . . . As the hour of 9:50 was
reached there was suddenly heard a rushing, roaring sound compared by
some to a train of cars at no great distance, by others again to an escape
of steam from a boiler. It was followed immediately by a thumping and
beating of the earth underneath the houses, which rocked and swayed to
and fro. Furniture was violently moved and dashed to the floor, pictures
were swung from the walls and in some cases completely turned with their
backs to the front, and every movable thing was thrown into extraordinary
convulsions. The greatest intensity of the shock is considered to have
been during the first half, and it was probably then, during the period of
the greatest sway, that so many chimneys were broken off at the junction with
the roof. The number was afterwards counted and found to be almost
14,000.
Apparently there were two maxima, the first of ten seconds
duration, the second of six, with an interval of comparative quiet
of 22 to 24 seconds. The whole period to be assigned to this
destructive double shock is about 68 seconds.
Another observer states that four severe shocks occurred before
midnight and that three others followed at about 2, 4 and 8:30
o'clock A. M.1° Afterquakes occurred for months. Twenty-seven
persons were killed outright and at least 56 more died from injuries
received and exposure suffered. The money value of the property
destroyed was estimated for Charleston alone at between $5,000,000
and $6,000,000. Not a building wholly escaped injury. Damage to
buildings was greater on the low made ground than on the natural
higher parts of the city.
The occurrence of visible surface waves was so definitely as-
serted by so many observers and with such detail of description
that the fact of their formation cannot be discredited. The pass-
ing of such waves has often been included in the description of
earthquakes, but their actual existence had been doubted, on account
of the difficulty of explaining their origin. The amplitude of the
surface waves in some parts of Charleston is estimated by Dutton
at nearly or quite a foot and the average amplitude for the city at
three or four inches.
* Ninth Annl. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, p. 231. Washington, 1889.
a (Op ths pe 217.
248 HOVEY—EARTHQUAKES: [April 24,
Besides throwing down walls and chimneys and moving houses
bodily on their foundations, the earthquake caused wooden posts
and brick piers to sink vertically into the earth; compressed railroad
tracks into more or less complicated curves or stretched them apart;
opened innumerable fissures in the ground, and formed hundreds
or craterlets at many places out of which gushed water, sand and
mud in copious streams.
The earthquake waves traversing Charleston were localized as
coming from the northwest and from the west. The principal
epicentrum was determined as being about sixteen miles northwest
of the city and one mile from the little railway station at Woodstock,
and a secondary epicentrum about fourteen miles due west of town.
The focus of disturbance was a line or plane estimated as being
‘
twelve miles below the surface “ with a probable error of less than
two miles.” The velocity of the wave motion throughout the
eastern half of the United States was calculated as averaging 190
miles per minute. The intensity reached No. 2 of the Rossi-Forel
scale as far away as New Orleans, Clinton, Mo., La Crosse, Wis.,
Saginaw, Mich., Burlington, Vt., and Boston—an extreme radius of
about 1,000 miles. The Charleston earthquake is classed as a tec-
tonic quake, though no evidence of faulting was apparent on the
surface.
(Lantern slides were shown depicting the destruction of build-
ings in Charleston and vicinity and the formation of fissures and
craterlets. )
THe SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE.
California has always been known as a seismic region. Pro-
fessor E. S. Holden has catalogued 514 shocks, 254 of which affected
the region of San Francisco alone, within the period between 1850
and 1886. During the nineteenth century there were ten severe
quakes; that of 1868, known as the Mare Island quake, having
such a disastrous effect upon the city of San Francisco that serious
doubts were entertained of the advisability of rebuilding on the same
site, but these fears were soon forgotten and the city rapidly rose
again. It was rebuilt, however, without much reference to the
lessons that might have been learned from the experience.
1909.] THEIR CAUSES AND EFFECTS. 249
In the Sierra Nevada, forming the eastern half of the state,
earthquakes are likewise frequent. In 1872 occurred the great
Owens Valley quake, which was one of the most severe on record
and was the result of movements producing a series of faults along
a line more than 100 miles long with a throw of from ten to twenty
feet. This mountain system is formed of Precambrian granites,
gneisses and schists, upon which have been laid down upon the
west an unconformable series of late Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata.
The coast ranges, in which the earthquakes occur with far greater
frequency, are composed of a granitic core against which rest ex-
tensive Mesozoic and Cenozoic strata upon which are thick marine
Pleistocene and recent beds. The latter are full of the fossil shells
of still living species of mollusks and show that elevation is still
going forward in California.
The San Francisco Peninsula is traversed by at least five known
lines or zones along which movement, or faulting, has occurred
again and again. The principal of these zones is the San Andreas,
which takes its name from an important lake through which it
runs. It is likewise known as the Stevens Creek fault, as the
Portola-Tomales fault or more simply as “the rift.” This zone con-
tinues northwest in a slightly curved line to Point Arena and south-
east to the mountains west of Hollister. This is the continuous
extent of the fault, some 190 miles, but it probably extends under
the ocean beyond Cape Mendocino to the north and into the moun-
tains southeast of the line recently disastrously affected.1t Accord-
ing to H. W. Fairbanks’? the recognized rift extends from Shelter
Cove, Humboldt County, as far southeastward as the Colorado
desert and is 700 miles long. Dr. Fairbanks states further that the
great Tejon earthquake of 1857 was caused by movement in the
same fault zone.
The recurrence of horizontal and vertical movement along the
northern 200 miles of this fault line caused the earthquake which at
4“ The California Earthquake of 1906,’ by David Starr Jordan and
others. G. K. Gilbert, map, p. 317. San Francisco, 1907.
2“ The California Earthquake of 1906,” pp. 321-337. See also “ Report
of the California State Earthquake Investigation Commission,” by A. C.
Lawson, chairman, p. 48. Washington, 1908.
250 HOVEY—EARTHQUAKES : [April 24,
5:12 o’clock A. M., western time, April 18, 1906, wrought ruin or
serious damage over a belt 50 miles wide and 300 miles long. The
approximate position of the epifocal point of the disturbance is
given by F. Omori as being in latitude 38° 15’ N. and longitude
123° W., near Tomales Bay.*? The horizontal shearing movement
varied from nine to twenty feet toward the N.N.W. or the S.S.E.;
the vertical movement did not exceed two feet at any locality and
usually was absent, upthrow where present being on the west side
of the rift. Among the effects along the line of the fault were
rifting and bulging of the soil, offsetting of fences, roads and walks,
splitting and overturning of trees, landslides in the mountains,
wrecking of railway tunnels, spreading and telescoping of lines of
waterpipe. This is the most disastrous earthquake that has visited
the United States, though the chief destruction wrought was due to
the fire that followed in the train of the quake rather than to the
shock itself. About four hundred people are known to have lost
their lives in the catastrophe, and at least $350,000,000 worth of
buildings and other property were ruined by the shock or consumed
by the flames. An exact statement of the pecuniary loss caused by
the shock cannot be made, but the insurance companies finally agreed
upon a settlement to the effect that one-fourth of the damage was
due to the earthquake and three-fourths to the fire, and this esti-
mate may be accepted as the best that can be made. More than
four square miles of the city of 400,000 inhabitants was devastated.
The main part of San Francisco lies about eight miles northeast
of the fault line, and the propagation of the waves through the
city was in a direction N. 76° E., nearly normal to the fault line.
In general the advance of the wave motion on each side of the rift
was away from it. Omori concludes that both sides of the fault
line were displaced toward the N.N.W., the west side more than the
east, the amount of apparent slip being merely differential. In San
Francisco the chief damage was wrought upon structures built upon
alluvial or made ground. High steel-frame structures which were
not stiffly braced acted like inverted pendulums, causing ruin to
their walls. This was illustrated in the case of the City Hall in
San Francisco and the library buildings at Stanford University
%“ The California Earthquake of 1906,” p. 280.
1909.] THEM CAUSES ANDTERFEFECTS: 251
and the City Hall at Santa Rosa. The main source of the earth-
quake is thought to have been situated at a considerable depth below
the surface (Omori).
(Lantern slides were shown to illustrate the destruction of
buildings in San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Leland Stanford Jr.
University, and the geologic and topographic changes wrought in
the surface of the ground along the line of fracture.)
THE KINGSTON EARTHQUAKE.
The Blue Mountains, rising 7,400 feet above the level of a sea
18,000 feet deep, form the back-bone of the island of Jamaica.
They trend northwest-southeast and, according to Robert T. Hill,1*
from the earliest axis of folding now apparent. Upon this have
been super-imposed later east-west flexures corresponding with the
crustal movements that early in the Mesozoic era determined the
chief characteristics of the Greater Antilles. Charles W. Brown,
reports observing “transverse faults in the Blue Mountain region
which undoubtedly indicate lines along which fractures may occur.”
Professor Hill assumes an east-west axis of folding with an anti-
cline producing the trend of the Greater Antilles and leaving a
parallel syncline coinciding with the Bartlett Deep just north of
Jamaica.
Such strong relief coupled with folding indicates a high state of
tension in the earth’s crust. Resistance to stress is diminished on
steep slopes, especially when the application of pressure to the ends
of an axis is not made in the same plane, giving rise to torsional
strains. Fracturing results, tending to follow old fault planes, and
these fault planes were originally determined by zones of weakness
in the rocks. Fracturing, as we have seen, produces earthquakes.
Montessus de Ballore acquiesces in the folding postulated by Hill
and embraces the Greater Antilles, including Jamaica, within the
great Alpine geosynclinal. The region experiences frequent shocks
and one of the most dreadful disasters of modern times occurred
within it in the year 1692, when, as a result of an earthquake, the
greater part of Port Royal, the capital of Jamaica, sank into the
“ Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., Vol. XXXIV., p. 164.
* Popular Science Monthly, Vol. LXX., p. 385, May, 1907.
252 HOVEY—EARTHQUAKES: [April 24,
~_
sea. The city was built upon a narrow sand spit formed of the
detritus brought down by rivers from the mountains of the interior
or cast up by the sea. It is estimated that 2,000 people lost their
lives in this disaster, when a tract of land about a thousand acres
in extent sank so as to lie thirty or forty feet under water.
After the destruction of Port Royal the city of Kingston was
established on the gradually rising Liguanea plain across the harbor
from the old capital, and it flourished for 215 years, becoming a
compact city of 60,000 inhabitants. Its business portion extended
along the water front and was only twelve blocks long and two wide.
The city was built, however, upon unconsolidated gravels and sands
—alluvial and coast deposits that gave a foundation but little more
secure than the sand spit gave to old Port Royal. Hence when the
earthquake of January 14, 1907, occurred, 85 per cent. of the build-
ings in the city was injured or destroyed, and fire completed the ruin
over ten or fifteen blocks of the business and warehouse section.
The shock probably began at 3:33 P. M., though an exact state-
ment cannot be made through lack of accurate standard time in the
island. This defect as to time has made it impracticable to plot any
coseismal lines. The first series of vibrations, the great shock,
lasted 35 seconds, more or less, but the duration varied with the
position of the observer. The longest period was reported from the
north shore and as being go seconds. After the preliminary tremors,
which were heard before they were felt, the shock was double, the
first maximum being reached in about ten seconds, followed by a
second and less acute climax before the vibrations ceased. The in-
terval between the preliminary tremors and the main shock was
almost insensible. After shocks occurred for several months.
Through the city of Kingston and its immediate vicinity the earth-
wave shown by the first climax passed from west to east, but three
miles north of town the direction of motion was distinctly from
the south, while in the Hope River valley five miles east of the city,
the advance was from the northwest. The earthwave recorded by
the second maximum of shock was more undulatory in character
than the first and seems to have originated more to the south of the
city. This direction of motion combined with the first produced a
twisting counter-clock-wise movement of slender upright structures
1909.] THEIR CAUSES AND EFFECTS: 253
like statues, columns and chimneys and had a noticeable effect on
buildings.
According to Professor Brown:
The dip of the angling cracks at Kingston points to a locus of dis-
turbance much to the west of that city, while the lines of isoseismals indicate
the intensity area to be in the eastern half of Kingston. . . . The only
conclusion then is that the eastern end of the Liguanea plain was the
nearest area to the real epicenter that by nature of material would give
the greatest amplitude to the destructive epifocal waves. Further, the angle
of emergence at Kingston codrdinated with the proximity of a probable
epicenter together with the limited area of disturbance indicates a shallow
origin of about three miles.
As is demanded by theory and observed in fact the vibrations
increase in violence on passing from an elastic to an inelastic
medium—the destruction wrought in Messina, San Francisco and
other places has been worse in the sections built upon alluvial or
other loose soil than in those built upon rock, and Kingston was
entirely upon such loose material. The experiences of these and
other regions show that the destructiveness of an earthquake is not
necessarily greatest in the epifocal area. If the locus of disturbance
is in or under an elastic rock-mass and the shock is propagated into
a region of inelastic loose material, the destruction in the latter may
exceed that in the real epicenter. The fault which was the locus of
the San Francisco quake is some miles from the city.
The shock of the Kingston earthquake was not sensible on the
island of Haiti to the east or on Grand Cayman to the west, but
Santiago de Cuba, 120 miles to the north, felt it slightly. This in-
dicates an ellipse as being the generalized form of curve for the
isoseismals, with the longer axis extending approximately north and
south. At Annotta and Buff Bays on the north shore of Jamaica,
opposite Kingston, the destruction wrought was almost as severe as
at the capital city. The inference is that renewed faulting along
north-south fault lines caused the earthquake.
The building construction of Kingston was as bad as the founda-
tion upon which the city rested. Brick structures predominated,
but for the most part it was evident that the brick had been laid dry
in poor mortar. Such buildings collapsed under the shock. Those
that were properly put together withstood the quake better. Wooden
houses with good braces and well fastened together were not thrown
254 HOVEY—EARTHQUAKES: [April 24,
down. Massive walls showed cracks from half an inch to two inches
wide. The double amplitude of the wave motion of the earth is
estimated at not more than one inch. Such an amplitude is small
when compared with the four-inch amplitude calculated by Omori?®
for the earthwave of the San Francisco (1906) quake, the 6 to
12-inch amplitude estimated by F. A. Perret!’ for the earthwave at
Messina in last December’s quake, or the one foot maximum ampli-
tude given by C. E. Dutton’® for the Charleston earthquake wave.
These largest estimates were derived from effects in soft ground
and are probably excessive.
From a geological standpoint the movements causing the King-
ston earthquake were less important than the changes in the earth’s
surface that were produced by it. Surface evidence of the former
has not yet been discovered, but the latter are quite apparent. Be-
ginning in the city water front, a belt of fissuring and subsidence
skirted the eastern half of the harbor and returned along the inner
(northern) base of the Palisadoes. Opposite the city the zone of
disturbance forked, one branch maintaining the original direction
and passing through Port Royal, while the other curved north-
westward touching Ft. Augusta and dying out in the River Cobre
valley, eight to ten miles northwest of town.
From soundings taken for Professor Brown, it was learned that
“in several places along the edge of the harbor the bottom had sunk
from old soundings of a fathom and a half to over six fathoms,
and that on the harbor side of the base of the Palisadoes a series
of step faults reached a maximum depression at the shore to the
north of four fathoms.” Port Royal sank from 8 to 25 feet.
The zone of disturbance was from 100 to 300 yards wide, contain-
ing where exposed many fissures and craterlets out of which water,
sand and mud gushed to heights of three or four feet. The fissur-
ing was caused by the compression and expansion of the earth due
to the passage of the earthquake wave, but the cause of the sub-
sidence is not clear, for the harbor as a whole did not sink—only
an encircling belt. Perhaps solution of the soft limestone where
*“ The California Earthquake of 1906,” p. 307, 1907.
Am. Jour. Sct., 1V., xxvu., 327, April, 1900.
*® Ninth Annual Rept. U. S. G. S., p. 269. Washington, 1880.
1909.] THEIR CAUSES AND EFFECTS. 255
the ground waters enter the harbor left caverns into which the
overlying material was shaken by the quake (Brown). No sea
wave of importance accompanied or followed the shock.
(A series of lantern slides was used to show the destruction
caused in the city, the sinking of Port Royal point and the faulting,
fissuring and formation of craterlets along the Palisadoes.)
THE Messtna-ReGccio EARTHQUAKE.
Time after time during the historic period Italy has suffered
from the effects of serious earthquakes, but never before so severely
as from that which occurred in Calabria and Sicily on December
28, 1908, when 200,000 human beings are supposed to have lost
their lives. The cities of Messina in Sicily and Reggio in Calabria
were completely wrecked, and many other villages and towns were
laid in ruins or damaged throughout an irregularly elliptical district
85 miles long by 50 miles wide, extending from Pizzo, Calabria,
on the northeast to Riposto, Sicily, at the sea base of Mt. Etna, on
the southwest. The epifocal area was the Strait of Messina, with
the epicentrum at or near the northern end of the Strait. More
precisely, the longer axis of the ellipse of greatest destruction
(from Ali to Palmi, about 35 miles), as shown by isoseismals, lies
in the strait and runs N.N.E-S.S.W.
Calabria and northeastern Sicily form a district of extreme
seismicity that has been visited by several disastrous earthquakes,
among which those of 1783, 1785 and 1905 stand out with prom-
inence on account of their destructiveness to human life and prop-
erty. Volcanic quakes have been associated with eruptions of Mt.
Etna, but they have been strictly local in effect, and their influence
has not been seriously felt across the Strait. All the severe shocks
have originated in Calabria or under the Strait of Messina are of
tectonic character, the geological structure being particularly favor-
able to the production of such quakes. Forming the backbone of
Calabria and extending beyond Messina in Sicily there is an
elongated area of Archean gneisses and mica schists. Along this
axis there occur nearly horizontal beds of Miocene age up to an
altitude of 3,300 feet above the sea, while along the Strait of
256 HOVEY—EARTHQUAKES: [April 24,
Messina there runs a fault with thousands of feet of throw, the
uplift being upon the Calabrian side of the Strait. Movement ap-
pears to be still going on along this and other fault zones, resulting
in repeated earthquakes. Furthermore, the slopes into the sub-
marine depths on both sides of the “toe” of Italy are very steep
and therefore unstable.
Toward the end of 1908 the seismic activity of the region was
evidently on the increase, and noteworthy shocks were felt No-
vember 5 and December 10, while F. A. Perret?® reports that at
5:20 A. M., December 27, just twenty-four hours before the occur-
rence of the great shock, the seismograph at the Messina observa-
tory registered an important earth movement. The observatory
was wrecked by the great earthquake, but the instruments had been
installed in its cellar and Dr. E. Oddone?® of the seismographic
service found them intact and the records intelligible, when he
reached the place January 1. These records showed that the quake
began at 5:21:15 o'clock A. M., December 28, with a gentle move-
ment the force of which increased during ten seconds and then
diminished during ten seconds. After two minutes of calm came
the great shock, lasting 30 to 35 seconds, which was recorded by
seismographs all over the world. This was followed by com-
paratively light shocks at 5:45, 5:53 and 9:05 o'clock A. M. of
the same day, and by noteworthy quakes at 2:51 and 7:30 o'clock
P. M. of the following day. For several days and even weeks
minor shocks continued to occur. Some of these “ after-shocks ”
were strong enough to add to the damage caused by the principal
quake. According to Mr. Perret*! the intensity within the mega-
seismic area was between the ninth and tenth degree of the Mercalli
scale decreasing rapidly with increasing distance from the epi-
centrum, and the centrum was not deeply located, being possibly
fifteen kilometers (92 miles) beneath the surface.
Messina was a beautiful city stretching for miles along the
shore of a magnificent harbor. Lying in an advantageous position
on the short cut from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Tyrrhene
* Am. Jour. Sci., 1V., XXvIL, p. 321, April, 1909.
Ta Nature, XXXVII., 103, January 16, 1909.
a BOGHICIE Sapa seke
1909.] THEIR CAUSES AND EFFECTS. 257
Sea, the city has enjoyed prosperity for centuries, in spite of fre-
quent visitation from earthquakes. The city was almost com-
pletely destroyed by a shock in February, 1783, but the people seem
to have learned nothing from their experience with an unstable
land. The Messina of yesterday—the city does not exist to-day—
was constructed of stone and rubble and old cement. The build-
ings lined narrow streets and were three, four and even five stories
high with massive walls. Hence when the shock came and raised
and then dropped the ground for half a minute, the houses, stores,
hotels, churches and government buildings were shaken into un-
recognizable heaps of debris, filling the sites of the structures and
obliterating the streets. The sea-wall in front of the city was
partly destroyed, and the promenade along the harbor sank in
places below the water.
Reggio di Calabria likewise has suffered frequently from
earthquakes, but until within the past few years the inhabitants
had not profited by experience to put up earthquake-proof build-
ings, and all the old houses in the city were demolished by this
latest quake. New houses not more than ten meters (33 feet)
high are said to have resisted the shocks perfectly. Throughout
the Calabrian earthquake district the buildings erected since the
disaster of 1905, according to the specifications of the Milan Com-
mittee, are reported to be intact in spite of the severe shaking thus
received, but all these are low structures.
Photographs show that there was some fissuring of the ground
at Messina, and it is reported that “ vast chasms’
both Messina and Reggio, but the latter statement is probably in-
5
were opened at
correct. Professor G. B. Rizzo is quoted as stating?* that the sea
bottom rose in some places, for he saw several boats out of water
at the places where they had been anchored some distance from
the original shore. The extensive breaking of telegraphic cables
indicates submarine disturbance, but the fact of* any considerable
change in the configuration of the sea bottom remains to be proven
and can only be established by careful soundings. No changes in
the coast line have occurred, as far as can be detected without an
2 Nature, Vol. LXXIX., p. 280, January 7, 1909.
PROC, AMER. PHIL. SOC. XLVIII. 192 k, PRINTED SEPTEMBER 7, 1909.
258 HOVEY—EARTHQUAKES: [April 24,
instrumental survey. It is stated positively that the ground sank
in several places in Messina, Reggio and elsewhere, particularly
along the harbor front in Messina and along the sea front and in
the center of Reggio; but all the low-lying parts of the two cities
were built upon unconsolidated alluvial and shore material, per-
mitting, as in the earthquakes of San Francisco and Kingston,
severe and destructive oscillations and displacements.
As is usual with shocks occurring along or near the seacoast,
9
the earthquake was accompanied by a “tidal wave,” the sea re-
treating for a considerable distance and then returning into the
strait with growing force. The wave was not at all violent in the
deep water of the strait and was of importance only as it came into
the shallower water near shore, where it was eight or ten feet
high. Its crest swept across the marina, or esplanade, bordering
the harbor at Messina two or three minutes after the great earth-
quake shock occurred, and some comparatively slight damage is
assigned to the water. The wave was somewhat higher at Reggio
than at Messina and attained its maximum on the coast south of
Taormina (Perret). In Reggio the buildings on the low land
along the coast were flooded. The wave injured a few boats at
Syracuse near the southeastern corner of Sicily; but it was scarcely
perceptible at the Island of Malta, about 165 miles south by east
of Messina, where it arrived at 7:15 o'clock A. M. The sea gauge
at Ischia, about 190 miles north-northwest of Messina registered
maximum oscillations of 22 centimeters (8.6 inches) at 2:30 o'clock
P. M. and at 8 o’clock P. M. If the former was due to the quake
that destroyed Messina and Reggio at 5:25 o’clock that morning
the rate of advance northward was much less than it was south-
ward.
(A series of slides was shown illustrating the effects of the
earthquake in Messina, Reggio di Calabria and Scylla.)
THE EVOLUTION AND THE OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC
GEOLOGY.
(PLates XV AND XVI.)
By WILLIAM HERBERT HOBBS.
(Read April 24, 1909.)
CoNnTENTS.
Part I: EvoLuTion oF SErsmMic GEOLOGY.
Introduction.
The Natural Development of Seismology Prevented by False Theory.
The Process of Averaging in Mapping Isoseismals and Coseismals.
The Evolution of the Fault-block Theory of Earthquakes.
The Relation of Earthquakes to Volcanoes.
The Mesh-like Distribution of Volcanic Vents.
Volcanic Extrusions in Relation to Block Adjustments.
A Possible Explanation of Volcanic Earthquakes.
The Conditions of Strain during the Growth of Block Mountains.
Part Il: Tue OvutiLook or Seismic GEOLOGY.
The Ultimate Cause of Earthquakes.
Earthquake Forecasts.
Periodicity of Earthquake Cycles.
Possibilities of Future Prognostication.
Need of Expeditionary Corps.
A Service of Correlated Earthquake Stations.
Preparation of Maps of Fracture Systems.
Maps of Visible Faults and of Block Movements for Special Earthquakes.
Rate of Mountain or Shore Elevation by Quantitative Methods.
Investigation of Earthquake Waterwaves.
Conclusion.
Part I: THe EvoLuTIon oF SEISMIC GEOLOGY.
Introduction—Speaking generally, the present condition of a
science is so largely the consequence of an evolution by slow stages,
that if the past be reviewed the present stands revealed. Zodlogy,
which began with the encyclopzedists as a descriptive science, passed
into the comparative stage with the advent of Cuvier, and entered
259
260 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
upon its fruitful genetic period when the modern view-point was
given it by Darwin. Looking back upon this evolution, we note
that the order is in every way a natural one. The facts of observa-
tion should first of all be assembled; they must next be compared
with a view to establishing correspondences, and, finally, the explana-
tion of the correspondences must be sought in genetic relationships.
Of geology it may be said, that the natural order of*its evolution
was exactly reversed; for the genesis of the earth and the full order
of events in its history had supposedly been given to man through
divine revelation. The growth of the science began, therefore,
only after a measure of emancipation from the tyrrany of religious
dogma had been achieved.
The Natural Development of Seismology Prevented by False
Theory—It may well be doubted if there is another branch of
science which has been so long held in fetters by false theory as the
branch of geology which treats of earthquakes. Had fate been
more kind, it might have been the earliest to develop; for the seats
of ancient culture were in earthquake countries, and it will hardly
be claimed that the phenomena of earthquakings are not such as to
attract the attention. Theories of cause do, indeed, date back before
the beginning of the Christian era, the dominating one being that of
Aristotle which connected the quakings with explosive sources of
energy, conceiving that gases confined in subterranean cavities
brought on quakings in their struggles to escape. For the times, this
theory seemed to be well supported by facts, since earthquakes were
generally manifested at the time of great volcanic eruptions, and
volcanoes and earthquakes were common to the same countries.
The Aristotelian theory of earthquakes acquired prestige from the
adhesion to it of Strabo and Pliny among the ancient philosophers,
and at the opening of the nineteenth century, through its adoption by
von Humboldt and von Buch, who then dominated the field of geo-
logical thought.
The middle of the nineteenth century is a turning point in the
history of nearly all sciences toward a greater exactness of ob-
servation. Academic discussions in large measure gave place to
careful and painstaking observation or to laboratory experimenta-
tion. Yet almost at the moment when Darwin and Huxley were
1909.] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 261
opening a new world to students of biology, the way to progress in
seismology was effectually closed through the commanding authority
of a pseudo-scientific work of great compass, written by the English
physicist, Mallet. Darwin’s great theory was an induction reached
on the basis of extended observations and!of meditations with an
open mind; Mallet, on the other hand, approached his work firmly
intrenched in a preconceived notion which the facts were assiduously,
though perhaps unconsciously, twisted to confirm.
Assuming that Mallet’s method had been a sound one, his
elaborate observations conclusively proved the fallacy of his theory;
for instead of pointing to a definite centrum, his results ranged with
noteworthy uniformity between depths of 10,000 and 45,000 feet.
The history of science furnishes no more striking example of a great
monograph wrought out with laborious scientific method and yet
absolutely lacking in scientific spirit or judgment, for with a naive
simplicity Mallet drew from his results the conclusion that, “the
probable vertical depth of the focal cavity itself does not exceed
three geographical miles, or 18,225 feet, at the outside.” Nowhere
in the two bulky volumes of his report is the possibility of a non-
existence of the centrum even raised.
As was true of the famous fallacy of Werner concerning the
origin of basalt, it was here the commanding position of the author
which gave his theory its authority; and, although the impractica-
bility of his method soon came to be generally recognized, the funda-
mental idea was destined to survive at least half a century as the
standard doctrine of seismology. It was the brilliant system of
Huyghens for treating the propagation of wave motion carried over
bodily to seismology, which caused it to be so warmly welcomed by
physicists and elasticians, to whose care this branch of science was
thereafter entrusted. As late as 1899, the depth of the imaginary
origin of a particular earthquake was sought by no less than four
different methods with results which ranged from 21 kilometers on
the one hand to 161 upon the other, these results apparently not
shaking the worker’s faith in the reality of the earthquake focus.
It becomes ever more clear that men of science discover in the
main those facts only which their working hypotheses indicate to be
important. For this reason a theory which is largely correct, grows
262 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
by elimination of the false and augmentation of the true, whereas a
theory essentially false yields nothing, and by discouraging effort
bars the way to progress. With the aid of mathematics and by an
abundance of exact observation, the more or less occult Aristotelian
theory was by Mallet clothed in a modern dress and thus made
respectable in the company of the modernized sister sciences. The
cause of the earthquake disturbance was by the very nature of the
theory hidden so deep beneath the earth’s surface as to be removed
from direct observation, and was, therefore, a matter suitable only
for speculation. .
At the opening of the twentieth century, almost fifty years after
Mallet had modernized the theory of Aristotle, authors of text-
books of geology quite generally disposed of the subject of earth-
quakes by a treatment of the outlines of the Mallet theory in the
compass of a few pages. How generally the investigation of earth-
quakes was excluded from the field of research in geology is strik-
ingly shown by the activities of the United States Geological Survey,
a bureau employing the largest staff of working geologists of any in
the world and including in its field subjects as diverse as paleon-
tology and mineral resources. In the years 1868, 1872, 1886 and
1887 earthquakes of the first magnitude wrought damage to property
within the national domain, and with one exception no effort was
made by the national bureau to investigate these phenomena, and but
little by independent geologists. Since the intellectual shock from
the California earthquake of 1906, individual geologists have begun
to take advantage of this opportunity for study, even though the
golden opportunity had already passed.
The Process of Averaging in Mapping Isoseismals and Coseis-
mals.—Aside from its occult and speculative basis, which removes
it from the reach of direct observational studies, the centrum theory
has yet assumed to adopt the observational method of modern sci-
ence. The isoseismal and coseismal lines which belong to the Mallet
conception of an earthquake centrum must be obtained through
averaging the results of observation either of the intensity of the
shocks or of the time of their arrival. In how far it has been nec-
‘adjust’? data in order to make the circular or elliptical
curves concentric about the epicenter and represent uniformly de-
é
essary to
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 263
creasing values as they recede from it, one who has not compared
the individual data will scarcely believe. A local intensity which is
too large can be explained either by a soft or a wet basement, by an
earthquake “bridge” or by probable error of observation; while
one too small may be explained by an earthquake “ shadow,” by an
interference of waves, etc. Many curiously anomalous data not
possible of explanation on any of these grounds may be dismissed
as “ earthquake freaks.”
As regards time of arrival of shocks, “too early” or “ too late”
data have not uncommonly been included among those which seemed
a priori the most reliable. Especially good examples of such data
are furnished by the studies of the Agram earthquake of 1880, the
Andalusian earthquake of 1885, the Charleston earthquake of 1886,
and the Indian earthquake of 1887. Out of 260 time data collected
by Dutton in connection with the Charleston earthquake, 47 were
Zejected as .; too early:
To average the determinations of an unvarying value in order to
eliminate the errors of observation and experiment, is indication of
a desire to secure accuracy which must be commended as eminently
scientific in its nature; but to average the values of a property the
distribution of which either in space or in time is likely to be sig-
nificant, is, on the contrary, one of the most pernicious, as it is one
of the most common and unconscious methods. Such a practice is
often condoned on the ground that the data may otherwise appear
to possess an accuracy beyond what they really have; forgetting, what
is far more important, that through the averaging process the data
lose their most significant characters. Now that so many sciences
are entering upon their quantitative stages it is important that this
method be corrected.
A companion fallacy to the supposed necessity for averaging
data of different values is that nature in all its moods has avoided
angles and straight elements in favor of the curving outline, and
that in consequence results are incorrect in proportion as they bring
out strong accent, or definiteness of character, or exhibit straight-
ness of contour. Inno field, perhaps, has this fault been more often
committed than in topographic mapping, where it has been encour-
aged as tending toward accuracy. A new era is dawning, however,
!
264 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
and the wonderfully improved maps which have been brought out
in recent years by the United States Geological Survey and by Euro-
pean surveys have been secured through the elimination of the
process of averaging and “rounding off” of angles. Significant
character is thus taking the place of a lack of expression in the
older maps.
In a similar way the isoseismals and coseismals, which have
assumed to represent the distribution in space and in time of the
seismic activity of a district, have through averaging of results
removed all true expression of seismic distribution. It is likely,
however, that this method will yet, at least for a number of years,
effectually retard the natural progress of seismology.
The Evolution of the Fault Block Theory of Earthquakes.—It
would be incorrect to state that no progress was made in seismic
geology during the last half of the nineteenth century, but it would
be only the truth to say that such progress as there was, was
achieved in spite of and almost in defiance of the orthodox doctrine
of seismology. Nine out of ten reports upon special earthquakes
made during that period have included only the maps of isoseismal
and coseismal lines, to which has been added a computation of the
depth of the supposed origin.
It is now proposed to trace the development of the tectonic con-
ception of earthquakes as it has grown into the fault-block theory
of the present day. To the Austrian school of geologists and to its
leader, Eduard Suess, must be credited the pioneer work upon the
geology of earthquakes. The discovery of the localization of heavy
shocks along definite lines, or the recurrence of epicenters (surface
loci of heavy shocks) along such lines, has been a characteristic of
the Austrian method, which dates from a paper published by Suess
in 1872. Such lines in the surface, generally approximating either
to a right or to a broken line, were in some cases identified with the
traces of fault planes and in others were shown with much proba-
bility to be the course of such displacements. Here, then, was the
first important recognition of the tectonic nature of earthquakes,
and, as a consequence, the Austrian school of seismologists has since
endeavored to examine earthquakes in the light of the geological
structure of the affected region.
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 265
It must be regarded as quite remarkable that the recognition of
this fundamental fact was reached in Austria, for the opportunities
offered by the Austrian field were by no means exceptional. In
fact, the great surface faults which have been a feature of great
earthquakes in other districts, have there been seldom observed.
In New Zealand, for example, accompanying a heavy earthquake in
1856, an area of country comprising 4,600 square miles was sud-
denly upraised to form a visible escarpment varying from one to
nine feet in height. This event was duly described by Lyell, who,
in the eleventh edition of his widely read “ Principles of Geology ”
reported this and other similar cases apparently without seeing that
they throw any discredit upon the centrum theory.
In 18841 Gilbert, in a brief note, explained the earthquakes char-
acteristic of the Great Basin of the western United States as due
to the interrupted jolting uplift of the mass of the mountains by
vertical thrust. The stresses tending to uplift the range aided by a
fissure already in existence, accumulate until they overbalance the
starting friction upon the fissure, when through movement the strain
is relieved and the potential energy of the system reduced. In a
later note published in 1890? he showed that during the earthquake
of 1872 in the Owen’s Valley, California, the ground was moved in
strips both vertically and horizontally.
In 1893 Kotd, describing the great Japanese earthquake of 1891,
in referring to earlier earthquake rents within the same district
said:
The event of October, 1891, seems to me to have been a renewed move-
ment upon one of these preéxisting fissures—the Neo Valley line of fault,
by which the entire region lying to the right of it not only moved actually
downwards but was also shifted horizontally towards the north-west for
from one to two metres along the plane of dislocation. This vertical move-
ment and horizontal shifting seem to me to have been the sole cause of the
late catastrophe.’
Without the aid of surface faults, Leonhard and Volz, in 1896,
expressed clearly the idea that the Silician earthquake of 1895 was
the result of an adjustment among orographic blocks or Schollen.
Their statement was:
*Amer. Jour. Sci., Vol. 27, 1884, pp. 49-53.
?Mon. I., U. S. Geol. Sur., pp. 360-362.
8 Jour. Coll. Sci., Tokyo, Vol. V., 1803, p. 329.
266 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
We must, therefore, regard the cause of the earthquake of June 11, 1895,
as a movement of the Nimpt complex of orographic blocks, which occurred
along the southern and eastern fracture margins.‘
The great Indian earthquake of 1897 was thoroughly examined
from the geological side with results which seem to have afforded
indication of the movement of the ground in individual blocks.
This, however, was not the theory adopted by R. D. Oldham, who
wrote the report upon the earthquake, apparently for no other rea-
son than that it seemed to require an expansion of the affected area.
In consequence, the unique hypothesis was offered that the earth-
quake was due to a movement upon a thrust plane beneath the
affected region. The mental attitude of Dr. Oldham is brought out
in the following paragraphs from his report in modification of his
choice of theory :*
Though apparently the most probable this is not the only possible,
hypothesis. The surface features of the Assam range, described in the last
chapter, are compatible with, in some respects they suggest, the idea that these
hills are what the German geologists call Schollengebirge, that is, mountains
which have arisen from straight up and down thrusts, instead of from lateral
compression, like the Alps and Himalayas. Jf this be so, the faults by which
the fault scarps are formed would be normal faults, and so far from there
having been any compression, the elevation of these hills would have been
accompanied by an extension of the surface. The state of strain, too, which
preceded the earthquake would have been one of tension and not compression.
The mechanism of the production of this form of mountain is not prop-
erly understood, and a condition of tensile strain in the crust of the earth
would be still more difficult to explain, but the fact of the existence of such
mountains and structures cannot be gainsaid, so the possibility of the state
of tensile strain they imply must be allowed.
If such is the nature of the Assam range, and of the cause of this earth-
quake, there would be no thrust-plane underlying it, and the focus of the
earthquake would have to be regarded as a complex one. That is to say,
there would be no general focus, but a number of independent ones, along
each fault, and the magnitude of the earthquake experienced would be due
to the simultaneous occurrence of a number of ecarthquakes of various
degrees of severity.
Whether we regard the focus as a thrust-plane, or as a network of faults,
it practically covered an extensive area." The hypothesis of a thrust-plane
* Zeitsch. f. Erdkunde z. Berlin, Vol. 31, 1806, pp. I-21.
°R. D. Oldham, “Report on the Great Earthquake of 12th June, 1897,”
Mem. Geol. Surv. India, Vol. 29, 1899, pp. 165-168.
®° The italics are mine—W. H. H.
* The italics are mine.—W. H. H.
agnor OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 267
is the simplest to work with, as also the most probable, and it is that which
has been adopted in the following pages.
As we shall see, the fundamental difficulty which stood in the
way of the acceptance of the Schollen idea at the time Oldham was
writing, has since been removed by the “ distant” studies of earth-
quakes (see below, p. 285), and the theory of a thrust-plane, which
he chose to adopt, has remained without any support in later work.
Additional and important contributions toward the fault-block
theory of earthquakes have crowded about the beginning of the
twentieth century. In the year 1900, Yamasaki, in describing the
great earthquake of northern Honshu, which occurred in 1896, gave
as its cause the movement on two visible displacements which
opened on opposite sides of the mountain mass.*®
Two long lines of fracture were discovered by me to be the cause of the
Riku-U. earthquake. . . . They lie on the two sides of the mountain
axis of the Central chain, and so this earthquake offers an example of the
longitudinal quakes (Liangsbeben) which but seldom occur.
Thoroddsen, in a report which reached the scientific world first
through a German abstract of the year 19o1,° was able to show that
during each of the five heavy shocks of the South Icelandic earth-
quakes of 1896, a separate block of country had been shaken. These
several areas were all included in a low plain walled in by a ram-
part of mountains, and with a single exception they were contiguous
areas which did not overlap.
Each of the heavy shocks was limited to a circumscribed area which was
made evident by a mass of collapsed houses, and from this the earthquake
waves were propagated outward in all directions.
The ground beneath the low plain is probably separated into individual
parts and the continued movement on these cross lines [across the main
fissures on which the volcanoes of the island are ranged.—W. H. H.], as
well as the faults between the individual parts, appear to be the causes of the
many earthquakes of this district. If one studies the statistical tables of
the ruined houses from each shock [given in Icelandic report—W. H. H.]
it is seen that the individual areas are somewhat sharply delimited; while
upon them nearly everything was destroyed, the damage outside was rela-
tively small.
®N. Yamasaki, Pet. Mitt., Vol. 46, 1900, pp. 249-255, map.
° Pet. Mitt., Vol. 47, 1901, pp. 53-56. The full report had appeared in the
Icelandic language two years earlier.
268 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE ~ [April 24,
Writing in 1902 Professor John Milne, who has done so much
to advance seismology, gave expression to his views upon the cause
of the larger and smaller earthquakes :?°
The earthquakes to be considered may be divided into two groups—first,
those which disturb continental areas and frequently disturb the world as a
whole, and secondly, local earthquakes which usually only disturb an area
of a few miles radius and seldom extend over an area with a radius of I00
or 200 miles.
These former I shall endeavor to show are the result of sudden accelera-
tions in the process of rock-folding accompanied by faulting and molar dis-
placements of considerable magnitude, whilst the latter are for the most
part settlements and adjustments along the lines of primary fractures. The
relationship between these two groups of earthquakes is therefore that of
parents and children.
Professor Milne’s studies of “ distant’ earthquakes had revealed
the fact that the world-shaking earthquakes most frequently occur
upon the floor of the ocean.
When a world-shaking earthquake takes place, and its origin is sub-
oceanic, we occasionally get evidence that this has been accompanied by the
bodily displacement of very large masses of material. For example, sea-
waves may be created which will cause an ocean like the Pacific to pulsate
for many hours.
To indicate the grand scale of the mass movements of the crust
upon the continental areas, a list of twenty-two larger disturbances
was compiled by Milne and the following important conclusions
drawn:
If it can be admitted that world-shaking earthquakes involve molar dis-
placements equal in magnitude to those referred to in the preceding list, . . .
then, in the map showing the origins of these macroseismic effects, we see
the districts where hypogenic activities are producing geomorphological
changes by leaps and bounds.
The sites of these changes are for the most part suboceanic troughs.
When they occur, the rule appears to be that a sea becomes deeper, whilst
a coast-line relatively to sea level may be raised or lowered. For nearly all
the regions of the world where they take place we have geological and not
unfrequently historical evidence that the more recent bradyseismic move-
ments have been those of elevation. This elevation, however, only refers
to the rising of land above sea-level, while the mass displacements seem to
be accompanied by sudden subsidences in troughs parallel to the ridges where
rising has been observed. In short, at the time of a large earthquake, two
” “ Seismological Observations and Earth Physics,” Geogr. Jour., Vol.
2I, 1903, pp. 2, 9, II.
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC; GEOLOGY. 269
phenomena are simultaneously in progress. A suboceanic trough may sud-
denly subside, whilst its bounding ridge may be suddenly increased in height,
and the concertina-like closing of the trough may account for the sea-waves.
Dutton, in 1904,11 included in his classification tectonic earth-
quakes, and by supplying data concerning the earthquake of Sonora
in 1887 contributed an additional example of uplift en bloc of a
mountain mass accompanied by a great earthquake. Of this range,
the Sierra Teras, he says:
In other words, the range seemed to have been uplifted several feet
between faults on either flank.
Yet the implication in the context is that these observations are
hardly decisive, and in a paper read before the National Academy
of Sciences in 1906” it is made clear that Dutton at this time still
adhered strongly to a modified centrum view to which he had con-
tributed in 1889 in his report upon the Charleston earthquake of
1886.
The Dutch geologist, Verbeek, in 1905 published a catalogue of
the earthquakes of the island of Ambon in the East Indian Archi-
pelago, together with a full account of the heavy earthquake which
caused much damage upon the island on January 6, 1898.%° His
study of the distribution of the damage resulting from the latter
quake brought out the fact that the shocks were largely limited to
narrow zones on either side of a main fault running in a north and
south direction across the island, and to similar zones about three
additional faults which cross the first nearly at right angles, the
stronger shocks belonging with the first mentioned displacement.
Of this north and south zone he says:
The terrane most disturbed, which one designates “the pleistoseismic
area” does not here have the form of a circle or of an ellipse, as in the case
of so many earthquakes, but that of a long band relatively straight, which
shows clearly that we have here to do with a tectonic quake; now since we
have shown above in the description of the geology that there is at the
south of Ambon a fault which is prolonged to the north through Ambon
and southward ... to the southern coast, it is altogether natural to
attribute the earthquake to a new dislocation along this cleft or fault of the
1“ Rarthquakes in the Light of the New Seismology,” 1904, p. 55.
2“ *7olcanoes and Radio Activity,” Englewood, N. J., 1906, p. 5.
RD. M. Verbeek, “ Description Géologique de l’isle d’Ambon,” Batavia,
1905, Pp. 300-323.
270 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
earth’s crust. Since the formation of this cleft, which is at least of pre-
Cretaceous age, doubtless movements have often occurred which continue
EVEN TOVOUT IMC Tey te
In the following year the Count de Montessus de Ballore, who
had already become known as a seismologist of reputation by reason
of his masterly essay upon the distribution of seismicity over the
globe, brought out a comprehensive work entitled “ Seismic Geog-
raphy.” In this volume, as a result of the study of no less than
170,000 recorded shocks of earthquake, their distribution within
each province was analyzed by new and ingenious methods of com-
bination. In each case the known faults of the district under con-
sideration were discussed, and so far as possible, their relation to
the seismic distribution was brought out.**
Much the clearest demonstration of the adjustment of por-
tions of the earth’s crust as individual blocks, and here by well-
demonstrated changes of level, is to be found in a paper by Tarr
and Martin upon the results of earthquakes in’ Alaska in the fall
of 1899.1° Some portions of the coast were found to have been
elevated, and other smaller ones to have been depressed. The sea,
which here cuts up the district by a number of fiords, permitted the
changes of level to be measured by the height of the abandoned
shore lines of 1899. In the absence of earlier soundings or of cor-
rect maps, the submerged areas were determined with much less
precision, though forests now below sea level bear abundant testi-
mony to the local direction of the earth movement. Still older
abandoned shore lines, appearing as notches above the raised beach
of 1899, proved that the latest elevation is but one stage in the
progressive, though interrupted, general uplift of the region. Tarr
and Martin’s statement of their view is as follows:
Briefly summarizing the inferences which the facts seem to warrant, we
conclude that in 1899 there was a renewal of mountain growth, uplifting
that part of the mountain front bordering the Yakutat bay inlet to different
amounts—7 to 10 feet in the southeast side of the bay, and 40 to 47 feet on
the northwest side. This uplift occurred all within a little over two weeks
and mainly on a single day (September 10). It was complicated by move-
4“ Tes tremblements de terre; Géographie séismologique,” Paris, 1906,
PP. 475.
*“ Recent Changes of Level in the Yakutat Bay Region, Alaska,” Bull.
Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 17, 1906, pp. 290-64, pls. 12-23.
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 271
ments along secondary fault lines, which produced at least three (and
perhaps more) major blocks. . . . The first and largest of these blocks,
. is apparently titlted upward toward the southwest.
Accompanying this faulting was a minor fracturing apparently due to
local adjustments in the tilted blocks. Doubtless this minor fracturing is
much more common than our observations indicate, for it was discovered
in more than half our expeditions into the interior when we went out of the
valleys away from the sea coast.
The evidence accumulated for the tectonic origin of earthquakes
and their inseparable connection with the process of faulting in rock
strata, has shown that seismology must be considered as a part of
tectonic or structural geology—that part, namely, which is con-
cerned with the recent and present-day history of the earth. So
soon as this fact receives general recognition, the field of study must
be added to that now explored by geologists. For their loss in this
quarter elasticians will be more than compensated by the enlarged
opportunities which are now offered them for studying earth waves
as they are registered at a distance upon the newly devised earth-
quake instruments.
Recognizing, then, that earthquakes manifest the time of opera-
tion of these larger mass movements of the earth’s crust which have
brought about changes in level as well as changes in horizontal posi-
tion in connection with faulting, it becomes necessary to place the
subject em rapport with the latest that has been learned in the wide
field of tectonic geology. This treatment of earthquakes as a part
of tectonic geology was attempted by the present writer in two
monographs published in 1907 in connection with a description of
the Calabrian earthquake of 1905,1° and later, in the same year, in a
treatise upon seismic geology.”
Having in mind the fact that the traces of fault planes are but
rarely exposed to view, and in only a small percentage of cases
possible of determination from purely geological studies, the inves-
tigation of the Calabrian earthquake was directed toward deter-
mining whether, (1) there are lines or narrow zones of special
*“ On Some Principles of Seismic Geology,” with an introduction by
Eduard Suess. “The Geotectonic and Geodynamic Aspects of Calabria and
Northeastern Sicily,’ with an introduction by the Count de Montessus de
Ballore. Gerland’s Beitrige z. Geophysik, Vol. 8, 1907, pp. 219-362, pls. I-12.
™“ Rarthquakes, An Introduction to Seismic Geology,” New York, 1907,
pp. 1-336.
272 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
intensity of shocks, (2) whether these are repeatedly the seat of
special danger from successive earthquakes, and (3) whether such
lines, if they exist, are expressed in the surface of the country as
earth lineaments. The investigation showed that at the time of an
earthquake the surface of the country affected is peculiarly sensi- —
tized to reveal the courses of hidden faults, which, if thus made
apparent, may be designated seismotectonic lines, and that strong
seismotectonic lines correspond in position to the striking linea-
ments of the country. In this we find a means of deriving through
the study of the topography, the tectonic geology and the seismic
history, an imperfect yet none the less a valuable map to display
the architecture of each seismic district.
It is a curious illustration of earlier misdirection of effort, that
up to the year 1907 no detailed map of the fault system within an
area disturbed by destructive earthquake had been attempted. The
maps which best display the disposition of adjusted fault blocks
were the small-scale charts by Thoroddsen and by Tarr and Martin.
In the summer of 1907, at the writer’s suggestion, the expert topog-
rapher and geologist, Mr. W. D. Johnson, of the U. S. Geological
Survey, prepared accurate maps of the surface faults of certain
areas disturbed during the Owen’s Valley earthquakes of 1872,
which maps were published in part during the same year.1* The
sudden changes of displacement on individual faults and the mosaic-
like structure of the disturbed region were thus brought out with a
clearness and accuracy never before attained.
Seismological science may be said to have suitably celebrated its
emancipation from the bondage of the centrum theory, when in 1907
there was published from the pen of the Count de Montessus de
Ballore the most comprehensive treatise upon the subject.1s* This
book recognized the adjusted fault block theory as the best avail-
able working hypothesis of the science, and with a grasp of the
subject which was based upon a lifetime of study, and upon a quite
unparalleled knowledge of the literature, earthquakes were so treated
as to make the work the one authoritative reference book of the
science.
*TIn the author’s “ Earthquakes,’ Figs. 23, 45 and 64. More complete
maps will appear in a special monograph.
#214 Science Séismologique, Paris, 1907, pp. 579.
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 273
The common characteristic of all phases of the modern tectonic
theory of earthquakes, the evolution of which we have now largely
traced, is that the adjustments in position or attitude of sections
of the earth’s crust are regarded as the proximate cause and not
the effect of the shocks themselves. So far as molar movements
have been recognized by the advocates of the centrum theory, they
have been regarded as the direct consequence of volcanic or explo-
sive shocks emanating from a deeper-seated origin. Two recent
papers of a somewhat speculative nature, prepared by an astronomer,
have sought the cause of earthquakes in a leakage from the bottoms
of the oceans.*°
The Relation of Earthquakes to Volcanoes.—As already pointed
out, the earliest of the generally accepted theories of earthquakes
connected them directly with volcanic action, and this idea has sur-
vived in the centrum theory. The tendency of later study has been
to indicate that while both betray a certain relationship to each
other, this is not often of sucha nature as to call for a quick response
of the one phenomenon to the other. Regions of volcanoes are sub-
ject to earthquakes, yet some of the heaviest earthquakes have
affected a region distant from any volcanic vents. Again, most
great volcanic outbursts are inaugurated by light earthquakes, but
great earthquakes produce as a rule no perceptible immediate effect
upon the activity of neighboring volcanoes. Thus, for example,
during the late Messina earthquake, which was so heavy about the
slopes of Etna, that volcano showed no sympathetic response.
Catalogues setting forth the seismic and volcanic activity within
any province betray, however, certain periods of years during which
both seismic and volcanic activity are at either a maximum or a
minimum ; though within these periods no close time relation of the
one phenomenon to the other is apparent. In short, it would appear
2 T. J. J. See, A.M., Lt.M., Sc.M. (Missou.), A.M., Ph.D. (Berol.), “ The
Cause of Earthquakes, Mountain Formation and Kindred Phenomena Con-
nected with the Physics of the Earth,” Proc. Am. Puiv. Soc., Vol. 45, 1907,
pp. 274-414. “Further Researches on the Physics of the Earth, and espe-
cially on the Folding of Mountain Ranges and the Uplift of Plateaus and
Continents Produced by Movements of Lava Beneath the Crust Arising
from the Secular Leakage of the Ocean Bottoms,” ibid., Vol. 47, 1908, pp.
157-275.
PROC, AMER. PHIL, SOC. XLVIII. 192 S, PRINTED SEPTEMBER 7, 1909.
274 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
that both earthquakes and volcanic activity are different indica-
tions of the operation of a more fundamental geological process—
mountain formation, with its concomitant manifestation in changes
of level.
Going back in the direction of the ultimate cause of mountain
building, we are probably correct in assuming that it is a conse-
quence of the contraction of volume of the planet and the wrinkling
of the outer shell, as that shell adjusts itself over the diminished
volume of the core beneath. In the past much confusion has arisen
from assuming that flexuring has taken place within the outermost
shell of the earth, and that the faults discovered are an incident to
the folding process within one and the same set of beds. Thus we
have come to speak of “dip faults” and “strike faults,’ “longi-
tudinal faults’ and “cross faults.” Later studies have shown that
the processes of folding and of faulting within rocks take place
under different conditions of load corresponding to different depths
below the surface; and that, therefore, the folding which accom-
panies the rise of a mountain range is so deeply buried beneath the
roots of the range that it can be laid open for study only after a
blanketing layer of rock some miles in thickness has been removed.
Those mountains which are growing to-day—such, for example, as
the Sierra Nevadas of the Pacific border of our own country—are
being pushed up in blocks which are outlined by steep faults. The
elevation goes on spasmodically, and each successive uplift causes
a jolt which is manifested as an earthquake more or less destructive,
according as the movement is of large or of small amplitude. Deep
below the surface, the rising blocks of the crust rest upon arches of
folds which a future generation of geologists may be privileged to
study after a layer of the present surface some miles in thickness
has been carried away. Those parts of the earth’s crust which are
not shaken by earthquakes are, in the language of de Montessus, no
longer living—they are dead.
Not only are earthquakes the indication of changes in level such
as accompany the process of mountain growth, but active vol-
canoes are now recognized to afford evidence of the same move-
ments. Wherever mountain ranges are now rapidly growing, there
active volcanoes are to be found. The full significance of this fact
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 275
is only beginning to be appreciated. Fortunately this hypothesis
may be fitted to the now quite generally accepted view that the
earth is essentially solid throughout, and is maintained in that condi-
tion at great depths below the surface by the high pressure from the
superincumbent material. Now the arching of strata in the process
of folding is competent to lift the load from underlying rocks, so
that wherever their temperature is such that fusion would occur at
the surface, a reservoir of molten lava is produced and will be
brought to the surface from the action of gravity whenever a path
is open for it. A reason is thus found for the presence of lava
bodies at moderate distances only from the surface in those districts
where the process of mountain building is in operation.
The Mesh-like Distribution of Volcanic Vents—The lineal
arrangements of volcanoes and the dependence of this alignment
upon the existence of fissures through the crust, seems to have
been one of the earliest of geological observations, so soon as the
less civilized continents had been scientifically explored. In Europe
the systematic arrangement of volcanoes is much less strikingly dis-
played, and it was there in consequence a later discovery. The
credit for having first recognized this important fact of observation
is generally given to von Buch, because of his classical study of the
Canary Islands. It seems probable, however, that Alexander von
Humboldt, his friend and colleague in the field of geological ex-
ploration, was the first to make the observation. The latter showed
that the volcanoes in the Cordilleran system of South and Central
America furnish striking examples of such alignment. Von Buch,
in his turn, emphasized this significant relationship, but found cer-
tain volcanic districts within which the alignment of vents was not
apparent, and so he distinguished volcamic chains from central
volcanoes. Other explorers like Dana and Darwin soon added con-
firmation of a linear arrangement from the regions which they had
individually visited. Dana, a member of the Wilkes Exploring Ex-
pedition, brought out the lineal arrangement of the Polynesian
Islands and showed that all these were alike rows of partly sub-
merged volcanic peaks.2® Darwin, during his voyage on the
»“ Mafual of Geology,” pp. 37, 282.
276 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
“ Beagle’ made observations"! which advanced the knowledge of
volcanic distribution, as we shall see, very nearly to that of the
present day.
As early as 1825, that pioneer and master of vulcanology, Paulett
Scrope, discussed the arrangement of volcanoes in the following
manner :?7
The generality of volcanos have a decided linear arrangement; one vent
following the other in the continuation of the same straight or nearly straight
line; and when volcanos have been formed on neighbouring points out of
this principal line, they are in almost all cases situated upon other rectilinear
bands parallel to the first.
Later Scrope expressed his doubt of the existence of v. Buch’s
class of central volcanoes, for which it had been claimed no align-
ment could be discovered.?? In 1844 Darwin proved the existence
of neighboring parallel fissues outlined by volcanoes, and was further
able to show by his studies of the Galapagos Islands that the arrange-
ment of the vents there brought out the existence of a network of
fissures composed of two rectangular series with the principal vents
at the intersecting points.*4 The directions of the two series were
northwest by north and northeast by east. Virlet d’Aoust had
already discovered the same kind of structure in the arrangement
of the volcanoes within the Grecian archipelago.”
Inasmuch as a mesh-like disposition of volcanic vents within a
network is of the first importance in its relation to the mass dis-
placements which occasion earthquakes, it is pertinent to examine
the more recent literature of the subject with a view to establishing
its truth or falsity. The newer and more accurate methods for pre-
paring maps which have been introduced since the time of Darwin,
make such a review at the present time in every way desirable.
There are two regions especially which have been recently carefully
studied by authorities of the first rank in the field of vulcanology.
I refer to Iceland, surveyed at his personal expense throughout a
*“ Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands, etc.,” 1844, pp.
140-145.
“Considerations on Volcanos,” London, 1825, p. 126.
78“ \Tolcanos,” London, 1862, p. 258.
*L. c., edition of 1900, p. 131.
* Bull. Soc. Geol. France, Vol. 3, 1832-33, pp. 103-I10, 201-204.
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 277
period of seventeen years by Professor Thoroddsen of Copenhagen,
and the islands of the East Indian Archipelago, surveyed for the
Dutch Government by the distinguished geologist, Verbeek. Of the
Icelandic volcanic region Thoroddsen says :*°
Of larger eruption fissures and crater chains I have found 87, all of
postglacial origin ;
. The many fissures which are common to several districts can not
possibly be entered upon a map of small scale; the terrane is often so
divided by clefts that both within the flat country and upon the slopes of
mountains it appears to be separated into numerous narrow strips some
kilometers in length.
Between the numerous non-volcanic and the volcanic clefts which
have poured out important streams, no difference is to be noticed; an ordi-
nary cleft may suddenly become volcanic.
. Where larger fissure systems cross, there are often found large
24 46
Scole of Miles.
Fic. 1. Map showing arrangement of volcanoes in the western part of the
Island of Java. (After Verbeek.)
volcanoes, as for example the largest volcano in Iceland, Askja, with a
crater of 55 sq. km. area situated at the intersection of the southland fissure
running NE.-SW. and the northland one trending N.-S.
“Die Bruchlinien Islands und ihre Beziehungen zu den Vulkanen,”
Pet. Mitt., Vol. 51, 1905, pp. 1-5, map pl. 5.
[April 24,
HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE
278
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1909. J OUTLOOK, OF SEISMIC ‘GEOLOGY. 279
With the exception of the report on Krakatoa the five mono-
graphs and accompanying grand atlases which have been issued by
the Geological Survey of the Dutch East Indies under the direction
of Dr. Verbeek, seem to be but little known; yet they contain the
results of extended and detailed surveys within one of the world’s
most interesting volcanic regions.*7 Nowhere have such trustworthy
data been compiled which permit of a thorough study of the arrange-
ment of volcanic vents. Clearly aligned upon fissures the map of
Java displays the elements in the intersecting volcano network, as
may be seen from atlas drawings reproduced in Figs. 1-2.
Though more accurately worked out, it does not appear that
these instances of intersection of volcano rows is exceptional. Felix
Fic. 3. Map to bring out the arrangement of volcanic islands and submerged
volcanic peaks in the Lipari group.
and Lenk?’ have explained the prominence of the mighty volcanoes
of Mexico, Popocatepetl, Ajusko and Nevada di Toluca, as due to
their location at the intersection of important fissures, though the
warrant for this has been questioned by others. The volcanic Lipari
Islands of the Mediterranean, which were formerly regarded as
7 Verbeek, “ Sumatra’s Westkust”’ (Dutch language), Batavia, 1883, 674
pp., atlas of 16 maps. Verbeek, “ Krakatau,” Batavia, 1885, 567 pp., atlas of
25 pls. Verbeek et Fennema, “ Description Géologique de Java et Madoura,”
Amsterdam, 1896, two volumes, 1,183 pp., atlas of 24 maps. Verbeek, “ De-
scription Géologique de Vile d’Ambon,” Batavia, 1905, 323 pp., atlas of 10
maps. Verbeek, “Rapport sur les Moluques,” Batavia, 1908. 1844 pp.
atlas of 20 maps.
* Zeitsch. d. deutsch. geol. Gesell., Vol. 44, 1892, pp. 303-326.
280 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
built up on radial fissures going out from the ruptured center of a
depressed area, reveal a regular plan with the volcanic peaks and
craters at the crossing points of intersecting lines, so soon as the
submerged cones are brought into the problem (see Fig. 3).”° The
volcanoes of Italy and surrounding waters furnish an example of
a much larger network within which the vents are located at inter-
secting points.*°
What is true of the arrangement of ordinary volcanic cones
within individual provinces, is repeated in the case of the monti-
cules or parasitic cones which are built up upon the flanks of larger
composite volcanoes, such, for example, as Etna.** To some extent
a similar arrangement may be inferred on a far grander scale than
any that has been mentioned, as in the longer trains of the volcanic
islands. As long since pointed out by Neumayr, the volcanic island,
St. Helena, is located at the crossing point of two long lines of
widely separated volcanoes, one trending NE.-SW., and the other
NW.-SE. (See Fig. 4). One of these, the well known ‘‘ Cameroon
fissure,” bisects the Gulf of Guinea and includes the volcanic islands,
St. Helena, Annobom, Sao Thomé, I. do Principe, and Fernando Po.
On the land this fissure is continued in a striking manner by the fault
bridge which ends in the Tschebitschi, 2,000 meters high, which then
drops suddenly to the level of a low plain less than 200 meters above
the sea. The volcanotectonic line which intersects this striking
lineament at St. Helena, includes Ascension, one of the eastern cones
of St. Paul’s Rocks and a conical, submerged elevation upon the
sea floor, almost under the tropic of Capricorn about 800 kilometers
southwest of Amboland.
In addition to these two fissure directions, a third is like them
strikingly characteristic of the African continent, as shown by the
remarkable north and south lines of volcanoes and rift valleys in
central Africa east of the Nile. To these three prevailing directions,
northwest-southeast, northeast-southwest, and north-south, must be
added a fourth less common direction, namely, east-west. Simmer
» Hobbs, Gerlands Beitrige 2. Geophysik, Vol. 8, 1907, pp. 316-317.
»” Tbid., pp. 315-316, smaller map of pl. 3. See also Suess, ~The Face
of the Earth,” Vol. 1, p. 144.
5! Hobbs, J. c., pp. 348-349, pl. Io.
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 281
in a noteworthy compilation®? has shown that these directions are
brought out for the African continent not only in the lines of
Fic. 4. Volcanotectonic lines which cross at St. Helena.
volcanoes but by the fracture systems revealed in the rocks, so far
as they have been studied. It is interesting to note that these
2“ Der aktive Vulcanismus auf dem Afrikanischen Festlande und den
Afrikanischen Inseln,” Mitinchener Geographische Studien, No. 18, 1906,
218 pp.
282 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
directions are also the dominant ones in the fracture system of
North America.**
A number of papers of a controversial nature have appeared
notably by Branca** in opposition to the view that volcanoes are
aligned upon fissures, but inasmuch as they deal with districts in
which the evidence is more or less equivocal they need not be con-
sidered here. The problem of arrangement of volcanoes must be
solved not in southern Europe nor on the Mexican plateau border,
but in the volcano gardens of the world, such as Iceland or Java.
Volcanic Extrusions in Relation to Block Adjustments.——Clar-
ence King in his description of the area included in the Fortieth
Parallel Survey,*° an area divided by vertical faults into great blocks
which underwent adjustments at the close of the Miocene, has
furnished a classical instance of the relation of volcanic outflow of
lava to block movement. He says:
Single ranges were divided into three or four blocks, of which some
sank thousands of feet below the level of others. The greatest rhyolite
eruptions accompanied these loci of subsidence. Where a great mountain
block has been detached from its direct connections and dropped below the
surrounding levels, there the rhyolites have overflowed it and built up great
accumulations of ejecta. Whenever the rhyolites, on the other hand, accom-
pany the relatively elevated mountain-blocks, they are present merely as
bordering bands skirting the foothills of the mountain mass. There are a
few instances in which hill masses were riven by dykes from which there
was a limited outflow over the high summits—but the general law was,
that the great ejections took place in subsided regions.
The study of the great rifts of eastern Africa seems to have
shown that the volcanoes which have there been built up, are simi-
larly related to the sinking of the great strips of country which have
caused the chief inequalities of the general surface.** The two
°8 Hobbs, “ The Correlation of Fracture Systems and the Evidences of
Planetary Dislocations within the Earth’s Crust,’ Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol.
15, 1905, pp. 15-20.
% W. Branca, “Zur Spaltenfrage der Vulkane,” Sitzungsber. Ak. Wiss.,
Berlin, 1903, pp. 748-756.
%“TJnited States Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel,’ Vol. 1, Sys-
tematic Geology, 1878, p. 604.
%® Ed. Suess, “ Die Briiche des ostlichen Afrika,” Denksch. Weiner Akad.,
Math. Naturw. K1., Vol. 58, 1801, pp. 555-584.
1909. ] OUDEOOK OF SEISMIC ‘GEOLOGY, 283
chains of volcanoes in Mexico as mapped by Sapper®? seem to be
similarly associated with the great rift valley lying on the western
border of the Mexican plateau.
It is in Iceland, however, that the most extended studies have
been made of the most interesting field, in which the relation has
been worked out with the greatest thoroughness.** Says Thoroddsen:
One gains the impression that the form of the surface has no significance
as regards the volcanic force, which breaks out above upon the ridges, as
well as below in the valley, yet the volcanoes are always found associated
with areas which are either sinking or have sunk.
The lava stream Ogmundarhraun in Krisnoik, which dates from about
1340, was poured out from two parallel clefts. The southernmost portion
of this stretch of country between the clefts after the beginning of the
eruption sank about 66 meters, and one side of the western fissure rose like
a vertical wall with four half craters open at the brink, the other halves
having sunk. At the end of the cleft is a visible dike which leads up to
the row of craters.
Where great fractures or faults are present in the crust, the volcanic
forces have not always made a single passageway through them, but in the
vicinity on parallel clefts, often upon the high fracture margin; thus one
fracture line 50 km. long extends without volcanoes from Krisnoik to
Hengill, at which place the north side is sunk 200 to 300 meters; parallel
with this is here found above at the margin of the cliff an almost uninter-
rupted series of craters which have formed not alone upon a single fissure
but over several slices and small fissures running parallel to one another.
A similar phenomenon is to be observed on the southern fracture margin
of the peninsula of Snaefellsnes where the craters are mainly found above
upon the edge of the bluff. Often, also, the reverse is the case, as for
example, in the Odadahraun, where the rows of craters for the most part
extend along the bases of the mountain chains, which rise as horsts from
the sunken ground on either side; a like example occurs at Myvatu, although
here the rows of craters occur at times above upon the ridge.
In none of these cases have we evidence that the eruptions coin-
cided closely in time with the earthquakes which must have accom-
panied the movements of the earth strips between their bounding
faults, but the relationship of the one phenomenon to the other could
hardly be more clearly proven. Summing up the discussion, we
note that volcanoes, no less than earthquakes, help us to find the
positions of those fissures within the crust by which it is separated
“Ueber die ratimliche Anordnung der Mexikanischen Vulkane,”
Zeitsch. d. Deutsch. Geol. Gesell., 1803, pp. 574-577.
eee Cane Be
284 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
into a mosaic of blocks, and that these lines of fracture may there-
fore be designated seismotectonic or volcanotectomic lines or simply
lineaments according as they are revealed by earthquakes, by volcano
rows, or by topographic and geologic peculiarities.
A Possible Explanation of “Volcanic Earthquakes.’—Writing
before 1885 Suess distinguished two classes of earthquakes, the dis-
location and the volcanic earthquakes, and to these Rudolph Hoernes
added the type of in-caving earthquakes to cover especially some
of the light shocks of the Dalmatian coast. If we were to supply
a complete category of earthquakes it would be necessary to add
further a type of cataract earthquakes to cover the occasional fall
of limestone blocks in the Niagara cataract, as well as many other
minor forms, such as blast shocks in mines, etc. In point of im-
portance two classes only stand out sharply as they were originally
announced by Suess, and the present writer has been of the opinion
that even these may perhaps be subclasses only of a single phenome-
non. The mechanics of volcanic eruption, so far as it applies to
the cone, is now so well understood that we are able to connect
the outflow of lava which marks the beginning of the grand stage
of paroxysmal eruption in a composite cone, with the rending of
the mountain and the opening of a fissure—a distinctly tectonic
movement induced by the lava as it rises under the influence of
gravity, aided perhaps by the expansive power of the associated
steam. I believe we have been misled into supposing that the
fissures which are thus opened are necessarily radial to the cone,
since this would be presumed if the mass of the cone and its base-
ment were throughout homogenous, with no preexisting fractures,
and were acted upon by hydrostatic pressure from the central
shaft only.
Etna is a giant mountain rising nearly 11,000 feet directly from
the sea, its diameter is more than twenty-five miles, and since the
higher portions are so largely concentrated at the center, the aver-
age thickness of visible volcanic ejectamenta over the base of the
cone is only about one half mile. Apparently, therefore, this super-
ficial layer of volcanic material may play a relatively small role in
the rending of the entire mass which accompanies an outflow of
lava. Sq soon as we examine the lines of parasitic craters which
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC’ GEOLOGY. 285
are distributed upon the flanks of the mountain, we find that the
majority of these are not radial to the mass at all, but comprise a
network. A notable instance of a line of craters not in radial rela-
tion to the central cone is furnished by the chain of Monti Segreta,
‘ Nocella, Pizzuta, Gervasi, Arso and Difeso. Nearly parallel to this
chain is that of the Monti Mazzo, S. Leo, Rinazzi, Guardiola and
Albano. A map of these and other monticules upon the flanks of
Etna has been already published by the writer.*® It is, therefore,
not only possible, but extremely probable, that in many instances the
earthquakes which so generally accompany the rending of a volcanic
cone, are directly associated with the opening of, and perhaps a
differential movement upon, those fractures in the basement of the
mountain which are a part of the larger fracture system of the
district. Lacroix has recently shown that a network of fissures
appeared upon Etna in connection with the eruption of 1908.°*?
The Conditions of Earth Strain During the Growth of Block
Mountains.—lf we consider any circumscribed portion of the earth’s
crust within which mountains are growing through the adjustment
by individual blocks or compartments of the crust, it is necessary
to assume that the superficies is increased during the process. Indi-
vidual blocks may indeed be actually depressed as a consequence of
the adjustment, but yet the average movement must be assumed to
be upward rather than downward. Such a conclusion is, however,
in contradiction of the generally accepted view that mountain growth
comes about through a reduction of superficial area from secular
cooling. This very obvious difficulty in the way of adopting the
Schollen conception of mountain structure has been quite generally
recognized, and we have already seen how Oldham, in seeking the
cause of the great Assam earthquake, was led to reject the theory,
even though the vertical faults and the differential changes in level
were plainly to be observed.
In the opinion of the writer, the recent study of “ distant” earth-
quakes by modern seismographs has removed this difficulty in the
way of a general acceptance of the fault-block theory. By extend-
® Gerland’s Beitraege z. Geophysik, Vol. 8, 1907, pp. 348-350, Pl. to.
*@T eruption de l’Etna en avril-mai 1908, Revue générale des Sciences
pures et appliquées. 20° année, 1900, pp. 208-314.
286 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
ing our knowledge of surface displacements of the earth to the floor
of the oceans, it has brought us a surprise; for we have learned that
to these areas, by many regarded as so stable, belong a much larger
proportion of the grander movements, and by presumption of the
smaller ones as well. The recent study of the ocean floor through
soundings, examined with reference to the loci of suboceanic quakes,
has told us, further, that though the movements upon the land are
generally upward, those upon the ocean bottom, on the contrary, are
downward. The so-called “origins” of the oceanic quakings are
most frequently the steep borders of the great sea troughs where the
greatest depths have been revealed by soundings. Now it is as impos-
sible to separate the idea of molar displacements from these great
disturbances as it is to avoid the conclusion that since these troughs
are now the deepest bottoms, this is a direct consequence of the
repeated displacements which must accompany the quakings. It
has, moreover, been a general result of direct observation, that with
noteworthy local exceptions the sea-coasts are to-day undergoing
elevation, and that the steeper coasts face the greater depths.*°
It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the general upward
movement of the margins of the continental areas and the general
downward movements of the near-lying oceanic floors are inter-
related as parts of one general adjustment within the outer shell of
our planet. This granted, there is no difficulty in conceiving of the
rise of block mountains upon the continental borders, since the
increase of superficies within the affected continental region is com-
pensated by a contraction of area in portions of the sea floor which
in the same general period are subsiding. A rise of block moun-
tains to the accompaniment of an earthquake, if our theory of cause
be correct, though it calls for an expansion of the surface, should
reduce the superficies of the affected region if measured on the sur-
face of a sphere at its former level. A renewed and sudden com-
pression of the district is thus made possible through the action of
the tangential compressive stresses within the contracting shell.
The writer believes that evidence of such compression has been
* See, among others, G. Schott u. P. Perlewitz, “ Lothungen I. N. M. S.
“Edi” und des Kabeldampfers “Stephan” im westlichen Stillen Ozean,”
Arch. d. deutsch Seewarte, Vol. 29, 1906, pp. 5-11.
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 287
found in the case of most large earthquakes in the behavior of rails
and bridges.*?
Part II: THE OUTLOOK oF SEISMIC GEOLOGY.
The Ultimate Cause of Earthquakes.—No one should be deceived
into concluding that because we seem to have found some evidence
of the nature of the process by which the external shell of our planet
undergoes its adjustment at the time of an earth shock, we have
thereby discovered the ultimate cause of earthquakes. That is a
far deeper problem, to which the discovery of the proximate cause
is but an initial stepping stone. It is in this field that the deeper
secrets lie hidden. The outlook of the science indicates two lines
of effort to be followed up. These are: (1) To make practical
application of the knowledge already gained, and (2) to investigate
with every possible improvement in method until we have so laid
bare the laws of seisms that we may forecast the time, the place and
the probable severity of future earthquakes with at least as much
accuracy and forewarning as is now possible in weather prediction.
Earthquake Forecasts.—It is much to be feared that the science
of earthquakes is to pass through a stage not unlike that in meteor-
ology which ushered in the day of scientific prognostication. Judg-
ing from statements which have been published, a “ Farmer’s
Almanac” of earthquakes and popular earthquake prophets may be
looked for as a possibility of the near future. It will be well, there-
fore, to consider the nature of the earthquake forecasts which have
been so widely advertised. Examined with care it is found that
these, in so far as they have found any verification, apply to a
single, though the most important, seismic zone, and that all are
indefinite as to the time and largely so as to place. Dr. Omori, of
Tokyo, after the California earthquake of 1906, made a forecast
which he himself subsequent to its partial verification reported as
follows :*?
As to the probable position of the next great shock on the Pacific side
of America I expressed my view that it would be to the south of the equator
“Hobbs, “A Study of the Damage to Bridges During Earthquakes,”
Jour. Geol., Vol. 16, 1908, pp. 636-653.
bul Bole Ca Noli i, Nott; ps 23:
288 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
(that is to say, Chili and Peru), as it was very likely that the seismic activity
would extend to either end along the great zone in question, and as the
coasts of the countries above named are often visited by strong earth
convulsions.
About two months after the prediction was made occurred the
Valparaiso earthquake, but at the same hour an earthquake of the
same order of magnitude visited an area in the Aleutian Islands
within the same seismic belt, though nearer and in the opposite
direction from the one predicted. On the same grounds Lawson
in a lecture read in March, 1907, said of the stretches between
southern California and Central America, and between northern
California and southern Alaska:
These strips, I believe, will be visited before long, and then the long line
of this earthquake will be complete from Chili to Alaska.
The Guerrero earthquake in Mexico occurred only a few weeks
later and bore out the geologist’s faith in the soundness of his
hypothesis.
The method upon which such predictions are based is already
indicated in the quotations given. Briefly expressed it is the prin-
ciple of immunity from shock for a considerable period after heavy
earthquakes, combined with the conception of relief secured through-
out an extended zone in sections by alternation. An extended zone
on the earth’s surface is recognized to be what might be called an
orographic unit; that is to say, it is all undergoing progressive
though interrupted elevation. Stresses tending to produce uplift
are presumably cumulative and may be of varying amounts in dif-
ferent sections of the zone. ‘The resistance to movement under the
strain—whether due to the rigidity, to the vice-like compression, to
the absence of suitable fissure planes on which the movement might
occur, to the healing of such fissures by mineral matter, or to any
other causes—may be assumed to be different in different parts of
the zone. Relief of stress through sudden uplift should, therefore,
occur first within some one section of the zone where stresses are
greatest, resistance least, or both. The earthquakes furnish abun-
dant proof of the general correctness of this view. Now it is sim-
pler to assume that relief having been secured in one section of the
belt, a certain lowering of the potential energy of the system of
1909.] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 289
stresses is to be expected in the near-lying sections on either side,
particularly since the shock tends to discharge the system of strain
as would a fulminate. On the theory of probabilities the area next
to be relieved should be the most distant, providing stress has there
been accumulated for an equally long period. The third and fourth
steps in the cycle of release of strain should in position be inter-
mediate between the first and second on one side or the other. Later
steps in the “letting down” process should affect especially the still
intermediate unrelieved sections of the zone.
This method, simple as it is in theory, permits of only the broad-
est generalization and, as already stated, has been tested in but one
zone and for one cycle of relief. This zone is the great circle belt
which surrounds the Pacific Ocean, and the cycle of relief seems to
have begun with the Colombian earthquake of January, 1906. Only
two months after this disturbance came the Formosa earthquake, in
a province between one third and one half the distance around the
planet. The area of the California earthquake, which occurred a
month after that in Formosa, is intermediate between the first two,
though nearer the first than the second. By examination of Fig. 5,
which is drawn to scale, it will be noted that the distances separating
the approximate centers of these and the later disturbances in the
series, generally bear out the hypothesis that each later earthquake
affects an area farthest removed from those sections of the zone
which have already found relief.
The rapidity with which the steps in the process of securing
relief have here succeeded to one another, lends strong support to
the view that the zone in question should be regarded as a definite
orographic unit, and that the stress-strain conditions within all
except the southernmost portions were before relief began, remark-
ably uniform. The planetary order of magnitude of the movements
would thus seem to be clearly indicated. The section of the zone
last to be relieved was, it is interesting to note, one which had been
partly relieved of stress during two earthquakes six years and four
years before the main cycle of relief was inaugurated. The section
which separates the district of the Aleutian from that of the Cali-
fornian earthquake had also been visited by earthquakes seven years
and six years previous to the main cycle of relief. The portions
PROC. AMER. PHIL, SOC., XLVIII. 192 T, PRINTED SEPTEMBER 7, I909.
290 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
of the zone in which the probability of heavy shocks is now most
imminent, are the Japan-Kamschatka segment, the Peru-Bolivian
segment, and the archipelago region to the southeast of Asia. Inas-
much, however, as between 1899 and 1903, 29, 12 and 41 heavy
shocks had been registered by seismographs from the vicinity of
7
(LL haskalyritish Columbia \
vf
Segrien?
Aleutians California
August 17, 06 Avr! 18, 06
Guerrero
April (807
Aome hortca-
Jepon Segment
Columbia
Jan.29 06. T
Wh Forrosa
: W10°Ch 17, Ob
Feru-
Bolivia Segrnent
Fic. 5. Diagram showing the distances which separated the approximate
centers of areas of the series of earthquakes within the circum-Pacific zone
in the years 1906-7.
these three segments respectively,** the time may be long before the
limit of strain may again be reached in them. The problem is thus
far from simple and prediction would be extremely hazardous.
It should not be forgotten that prediction of any sort has thus
* Milne, Geogr. Jour., 1903, map.
1909. ] OQUTEOOK OF “SEISMIC GEOLOGY: 291
far been possible only within this circum-Pacific zone, which, at the
time, is passing through a remarkable seismic history. It is little
likely that any such sudden relief of strain will take place again in
the same zone before a considerable period has elapsed.
Yet, outside this zone and within our own country, earthquakes
of the first order of magnitude have visited the lower Mississippi
Valley, the coastal plain in South Carolina and the valley of the
St. Lawrence during the brief period that the country has been
occupied by whites. Of these sections of country, as of most
others, the only safe prediction that can now be made, is that dis-
tricts already visited by historical destructive shocks, as well as
some others, notably New England and the Middle States, will
eventually suffer from disastrous earthquakes. To the time of such
visitations we have not even a clue.
Periodicity of Earthquake Cycles—The “letting down” of the
potential energy of the system of stresses within the circum-Pacific
belt, as brought out by the events of 1906-7, is, in the writer’s
belief, as regards its close sequence, an event without parallel in the
history of seismic geology. Something approaching it appears, how-
ever, to have been in operation within a somewhat longer period in
the other great seismic belt of the globe. Making all due allowance
for the fact that our quite recent study of distant earthquakes has
greatly extended our horizon, it still seems necessary to conclude
that the present is a time of very exceptional seismic intensity.
So soon as we admit the planetary scale of these seismic dis-
turbances and explain them as a result of mountain growth upon
the borders of the continent, we are led to expect the existence of
such maxima and minima of seismic intensity. If now we examine
the history of earthquakes in those countries possessing the longest
records, we find evidence in support of this view. The stronger
earthquakes in Japan, which are on record for a period of fifteen
hundred years, betray a strong tendency to group themselves. The
154 heavy earthquakes recorded in that country since the beginning
of the fourteenth century may be divided more or less definitely into
A4I groups separated by average intervals of 134 years. In Kyoto
a complete record has been kept for a thousand years. Here there
was a strong maximum of destructive and strong earthquakes be-
292 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
tween the middle of the fourteenth and the middle of the fifteenth
century, this maximum period being followed by a steady decrease
to a minimum in the last half of the nineteenth century. Minor
fluctuations reveal an average period of 6} years, or about one half
that revealed by the records for the Empire as a whole.*
The natural objection which would be raised to making use of
these data for basing conclusions upon the behavior of the earth
as a whole, is that the maximum of intensity in Japan may well have
been compensated by a minimum in a neighboring district. What
we need for basing our conclusions is a world catalogue of earth-
quakes extending over a sufficiently extended period. Thanks to
John Milne and those who have followed his lead, we are now pre-
paring such a catalogue, which is sure to permit of a definitive
answer to the question of earthquake periodicity. Even within the
first section of this catalogue, comprising as it does the thirteen
years from 1892 to 1904, Milne believes he has made out a relatively
short period with the maxima of world shaking in correspondence
with the more abrupt changes in direction in the orbit of the earth’s
pole. On a priori grounds it is reasonable to connect seismic dis-
turbances with sudden changes in latitude, and the further data upon
the pole movement and the seismic world maxima, will be scrutinized
with interest.
Possibilities of Future Prognostication.—It is too early to pre-
dict whether more satisfactory bases for future forecasting of earth-
quakes will be discovered, but the indications are certainly encourag-
ing. Two, and perhaps three, lines of inquiry are already suggested.
Most promising of these, is, perhaps, the study of terrestrial magnet-
ism; for in a considerable number of instances, destructive earth-
quakes have been preceded by periods measured in hours and some-
times in days, within which the behavior of magnetographs was
singularly abnormal. It seems likely that this change in magnetic
conditions may sometimes be utilized as a warning signal. For
solution of this problem the completion of the magnetic survey of
the world, may be expected to contribute.
Evidence is not lacking that fore-shocks, or rather fore-tremors,
#“ Kichuchi, ‘E) 1, C. Pub, No:.10) 10904; pp.) 11-13.
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 293
for they would appear to have an extremely small amplitude of
vibration, are a fore-runner of most heavy earthquakes. These
fore-tremors should not be confused with the preliminary tremors in
the record of the distant seismograph, for they are of such small
amplitude that they would probably not be registered by any instru-
ments today constructed, except perhaps within the affected district
itself. Our best evidence that such fore-tremors exist is furnished
by the behavior of certain of the lower animals. In the opinion of
the writer, such a body of evidence has now accumulated, that it
can no longer be waved aside. Just as the sense of smell is so much
more highly developed in the dog, for example, than it is in man,
so there seems no valid reason for doubting that the detection of
small motions by the lower animals may be by as much superior to
the human sensibility. Dr. Omori has expressed his belief that
seismographs will yet be made sufficiently sensitive to record these
microscopic tremors. Just as a block tested in our experiments
assumes very large deformations as it approaches rupture, so the
earth structure may behave during a period which is as much longer
in proportion as the time of augmenting the stresses exceeds that in
our experiments. Judging from the recorded behavior of animals,
it would not be surprising if the period during which warning may
be possible on this basis, should prove to be a large fraction of a day,
or even longer. If measurable deformation does occur as a result
of the accumulated stresses long before the limit is reached, it may
be possible in the case of those earthquakes particularly which
result in horizontal shearing movements, to determine by frequent
measurement of the distances which separate properly placed monu-
ments, the approach of the strain limit. It is a subject which is at
least worthy of investigation.
Since the days of Perrey, who devoted his life to an attempt to
find a connection between earthquakes and lunar conditions, there
have been those who have sought to connect seismic and volcanic
disturbances with periods of special gravitational stress due to luni-
solar phases. The most recent advocate of such a connection, is
Perret,*® who is so convinced that he has found the secret behind
©“ Some Conditions Affecting Volcanic Eruptions,’ Science, Vol. 29,
1908, pp. 277-287.
294 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
the phenomena as to have ventured to predict for the year 1908, a
grand eruption of Etna.#* This eruption not having materialized,
Perret has accepted the Messina earthquake as a substitute.*7 As-
suming that his method is correct, it is possible to see how a period
of seismic or volcanic activity might be predicted; the method, how-
ever, gives no clue as to what part of the earth’s surface is likely to
be thus affected. The predictions of the author of the theory have,
Fic. 6. Abandoned Sea Cave to feet above water on Coast of California.
(After Fairbanks.)
on the whole, been less remarkable than the statements made by one
of his supporters.**
Need of an Expeditionary Corps—Ilt may well occasion surprise
that governments have been so slow to appreciate the necessity for
providing means for the investigation of earthquakes. Our own
government, which has shown such commendable generosity in
providing the sinews for scientific investigation, has in this particular
% The World's Work, November, 1907.
“ Am. Jour. Sct., Vol. 27, 1900, pp. 322-323.
*SJaggar, The Nation, Vol. 88, 1900, pp. 22-23.
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 295
field lagged far behind other nations. In Japan since 1892 there
has been an Earthquake Investigation Committee, and whenever a
destructive earthquake is reported from any part of the world, Pro-
fessor Omori, the secretary of the committee and its chief expert, is
despatched by his government to prepare a report upon it. Under
orders from the Japanese government, he is today in the vicinity of
Messina engaged in a study of the latest great disaster. While
these expeditions have been of value in securing information, the
time has come when with the incease of our knowledge of earth-
quakes, something more than a reconnaissance survey is required.
One man without assistants and without elaborate equipment, is
today in no position to secure those more important data which alone
can advance our knowledge of earthquakes beyond its present status.
Today a scientific party should have at its disposal one or more
surveying vessels—small gunboats or protected cruisers could be
easily adapted for the purpose—provided with modern sounding
apparatus and with a full equipment of necessary instruments. The
crops of scientific workers should include skillful topographers and
their assistants and all suitable instruments for preparing accurate
topographic maps. The party should also include trained experts
whose duty it should be, among other things, to map the distribution
of the surface intensity of the shocks. An expeditionary vessel of
the type described could be utilized upon occasion to study volcanic
as well as seismic disturbances; such, for example, as the late erup-
tions in the Windward Islands. The seismic events of the years
1906-8, would have been more than sufficient to take up the atten-
tion of two surveying vessels with their corps of scientific workers.*
In times of relative seismic inactivity the ships and their comple-
ments could be employed to advantage in work which will be more
definitely indicated below.
A Service of Correlated Earthquake Observatories —In addition
to the study upon the ground, which may be expected to lay bare
some important laws of seismic geology, there should be installed a
series of stations equipped with modern seismographs for the regis-
“In a late number of the Popular ence Monthly (February, 1909) the
writer has pointed out the exceptional opportunities which the recent
Messina disaster has offered for study by this method.
296 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
tration of the distant as well as the nearer and local earthquakes.
These stations should be well distributed over the national domain,
and should include a number of stations of the first rank provided
with the more sensitive type of pendulum adapted to the registration
of distant earthquakes. A larger number of stations of lower rank
should be provided with simpler instruments suited only for secur-
ing full data upon the local shocks. These smaller stations should |
be located with due regard to the more important seismic provinces
of the country. The United States Weather Bureau already
possesses suitable buildings for installing such apparatus, and the
regular employees of the stations could be trained to add the care of
the instruments to their other duties. In 1907 with the hearty
approval of the heads of the various scientific bureaus of the govern-
ment, the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
upon recommendation of its Committee on Seismology, memorialized
Congress upon the pressing need of such a service. A year later,
the Geological Society of America passed a resolution of similar
import, and in the same year, no positive result having been secured,
the Committee on Seismology renewed its first memorial by a second
resolution.***
Scientific research has already gone far to remove some of the
greatest scourges of human existence. Of those which are char-
acterized by sudden and usually unexpected visitation, are pestilence,
flood, conflagration, earthquake and volcanic eruption. Of these
flood and conflagration must be in part laid at the door of earth-
quake disturbances, to which they have all too frequently been an
almost inevitable sequel. They have, moreover, taken the larger
toll of human life and property. As compared with epidemic
diseases, like the plague and smallpox which repeatedly overran
Europe during the middle ages, earthquakes and their consequences
have been the less destructive of life. It has been estimated that
in Europe, the plague alone carried off no less than 25,000,000
people. Yet medical science has discovered the mystery of the
disease, and in sanitation and isolation provided the remedy. To
meet the great dangers of conflagrations, which from time to time
“a See also the resolution passed by the American Philosophical Society
on April 24, 1909. Proceedings No. 101, p. xii.
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 297
have swept over our cities, we have as yet made only partial provi-
sion, yet the remedy is known and the country does not hesitate to
make an annual expenditure conservatively estimated at $25,000,000,
and in addition compels its citizens to build according to approved
regulations.
A single earthquake has involved us in a loss of over $350,000,-
000, or nearly ten times the loss from the Baltimore fire.*° Yet the
government has expended nothing in an attempt to safeguard the
future by avoiding the recurrence of such disasters. In Europe
within a few months an entire city has been laid in ruins with a
loss of life which may reach 150,000, yet the latest information
makes it almost certain that this quake was not an exceptionally
heavy one, and that most of the loss of life and property might
have been avoided if proper methods of construction had been
adopted.
It can hardly be claimed that the comparatively recent California
disaster gave us our first warning of danger, for twenty years earlier
the earthquake in South Carolina caused a loss of over one hundred
lives, and property to the value of between $5,000,000 and $6,000,-
000. The earlier earthquakes within our territory have been far
heavier and the small loss of life and property is accounted for only
because the districts were at the time so thinly populated. We
must not, therefore, overlook the fact that the United States is an
earthquake country, and this not alone in its Pacific section. Some
of our largest and most prosperous cities are almost certain to pass
through their trials in the future, as Charleston and San Francisco
have so recently. On February 5, 1663, almost the entire valley of
the St. Lawrence and large sections of New England were visited
by an earthquake, which, if the country had been built up as it is
today, would have caused a disaster which it is not pleasant to
contemplate.
Preparation of Maps of Fracture Systems.—As we have seen,
earthquakes register the movement of portions of the earth’s crust
between planes of fracture. In just how far these fracture planes
are present in advance of the movement, and in how far they result
© The official figures kindly furnished by Professor J. W. Glover.
298 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
from the relief of strain at the time of the shocks, has not yet been
determined. Some writers have dismissed from consideration as
“secondary phenomena” most of those visible fractures which
first appear at the surface during an earthquake. It seems certain,
however, that many of these fractures, at least, as regards both
direction and position, are dependent upon the fracture system
already present in the underlying rocks; and there is, therefore, need
for extended study of the fracture and fault system within the rock
basement of each earthquake province. With this study might
perhaps be combined the determination of the depth and the earth-
quake properties of each of the overlying unconsolidated deposits.
Experiments are further necessary in order to determine whether
large thicknesses of such deposits are controlled by the same laws as
are the thinner ones.
In every district which has an earthquake history, this record
should be examined to learn if possible the points, the lines, or the
areas of heaviest shock. Whenever data are sufficiently complete,
maps should be compared to represent the approximate distribution
of surface intensity for each earthquake, and comparisons instituted.
Maps of Visible Faults and Fissures and of Block Movements
for Special Earthquakes.—lt has been pointed out that in the case
of a single earthquake only has a map been prepared to show in
detail the distribution of the surface faults and the block movements
of the ground. Thirty-five years after the event which brought
them into existence, these faults have been mapped in detail by Mr.
W. D. Johnson, of the United States Geological Survey. It has
been possible to prepare maps of portions only of the district
affected, and the full results are not yet published. Within the
national damain there are at least two other provinces which promise
fruitful results from such a study. These are the regions affected
by the Sonora earthquake of 1887, and, even more important, the
country about Yakutat Bay, Alaska, so profoundly modified in its
relief during the earthquakes of 1899. A scientific party with head-
quarters upon a surveying vessel, such as we have described, would
here find almost unequaled opportunities for securing important
data.
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1909.] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 299
—The studies of earthquakes during the last few years have done
much to destroy the illusions of more than half a century. Since
the time of Lyell, the burden of all geological instruction has been
the extreme slowness of terrestrial dynamic processes. Oscillations
of level described as slow and uniform warpings of the crust, had
been gauged by measurement upon shores, which in the expressive
language of de Montessus are dead, and where in consequence earth-
quakes are seldom or never left. If movements accomplished within
a week and largely upon a single day, can elevate stretches of coast
over 47 feet, as was true of portions of the Alaskan coast in 1899,
what modifications of our traditional theories will be required!
There is a pressing need for extended studies on rising coasts to
determine by some scale the rate of elevation.
Now it happens that one of the most rapid of erosional processes
is that accomplished by the waves as they beat upon a lee shore, and
this process is one capable of fairly accurate quantitative measure-
ment. The Pacific coast of North and South America, the greater
part of the way from Alaska to Patagonia, has, during a recent
period, been rising to the accompaniment of earth shocks. As we
now understand, these uplifts have been mainly spasmodic, and
the strand-lines abandoned with each successive uplift now stand
revealed in a series-of steps or terraces, which, when closely
examined, reveal the characteristic marks of wave action sometimes
at heights of fifteen hundred feet and more (see Fig. 7, and Plates
XV. and XVI.). Careful maps prepared after correlation of these
strand lines throughout long distances when combined with precise
studies of the rate of wave cutting, could hardly fail to shed light
upon the broader problems of seismic geology.
In some cases such abandoned shores now in an elevated posi-
tion reveal clearly that their uplift was sudden and that no interval
long enough to permit wave cutting separated it from the inaugura-
tion of the present level. Thus in figures 6 and 8 are represented
shores which might almost be described as fossilized earthquakes,
for the evidence is clear that the elevation took place in what was
essentially a single sudden stage and must have been accompanied
by a great quake.
Seacoasts offer the best possible data for observation and meas-
300 HOBBS—THE EVOLUTION AND THE [April 24,
urement of the rate of uplift, because the level of the water can be
made use of for the zero point. There are, however, other available
means for investigating the rate of continental uplift. In arid and
semi-arid regions, such as the Great Basin of the United States, the
Fic. 7. Elevated shore on the coast of California showing marks of wave
action. (After Fairbanks.)
rare but violent storms cause torrents in the streams which de-
bouch upon the plains from the mountain fronts, and so broad fans
and aprons are there built up. Now if the uplift of the range goes
on more slowly than the alluviation along its borders, the mountain
front deposits will bury and hide the escarpments which are opened
at the time of each successive uplift. If, on the other hand, the
1909. ] OUTLOOK OF SEISMIC GEOLOGY. 301
uplift is the more rapid, fault scarps will appear cutting the uncon-
solidated deposits. Such scarps, some of them twenty feet in height,
are characteristic of both the Eastern and the Western margins of
Fic. 8. Elevated and present shore lines registered in notches of chalk cliff
at Cape Ciro, Celebes. (After Paul and Fritz Sarasin.)
the Great Basin region. From careful study of the rate of deposi-
tion there is here the possibility of reaching an approximate measure
of the rate of uplift.
Investigation of Earthquake Water Waves——rThe great water
wave which followed the famous Lisbon earthquake of 1755 was
302 HOBBS—SEISMIC GEOLOGY. [April 24,
more destructive to human life than the shocks which proceeded it.
The earthquake water wave which inundated the shore of Japan on
June 15, 1896, destroyed human lives to the number of 29.953.
Such waves have been especially destructive along the western coast
of South America. The new seismology, by instrumental methods,
points more and more definitely to the cause of such disturbances in
the subsidence of great sections of the neighboring ocean floor; yet
with the exception of relatively small waves within the Mediter-
ranean, we are without observational data in the form of soundings
in confirmation of this hypothesis. The bottom of the ocean is each
year being charted in new areas, and we are fast accumulating data
on which to base a decisive series of observations to settle this im-
portant question. This will certainly be one of the larger problems
for investigation in seismic geology.
Conclusion.—It has been possible to indicate a few only of those
directions along which effort will be directed in the early future of
seismic geology. From this summary, I think it will be seen that
there remain no other fields of investigation so long neglected and
yet so full of promise in important discoveries, which are likely. to
touch so intimately the lives and happiness of human beings. What
we have already learned is much of it as yet only half learned, and
we need careful experimentation on lines already marked out, so
that recommendations may be made for adapting our lives to future
seismic conditions. Probably nine tenths of the danger from earth-
quakes can be avoided through practical methods of construction, but
the relative cost of the different means of securing immunity must
be carefully considered. The studies which are necessary are on
such a scale that they call for generous government support, and
it cannot be too strongly urged that the United States government
undertake a work so clearly demanded by the situation. This sup-
port should be nothing less than the foundation of a bureau for
earthquake investigation, with regular appropriations sufficient to
carry out studies by a system of correlated earthquake stations, and
also upon the ground of each devastated region whether it be at
home or abroad.
University oF MICHIGAN,
April 21, 1909.
SEISMOLOGICAL NOTES.
By HARRY FIELDING REID.
(Read April 24, 10909.)
(a) ConpITIONS PRECEDING AND LEADING TO TECTONIC
EARTHQUAKES.
There are two classes of earthquakes: Volcanic and Tectonic;
the former, connected with volcanic outbursts, seem to be due to
explosions or to the sudden liberation of steam; the latter are due
to ruptures of the rock. It is only the latter class that we shall
consider at present.
Rock, like all solids, is elastic, and when subjected to external
forces it suffers an elastic strain; if this strain is too great for the
strength of the rock to withstand a rupture occurs; but it is never
possible for a rupture to take place until the rock has been deformed
or stretched beyond its elastic limit. When the rupture occurs, the
two sides spring apart under the elastic forces and come to positions
of equilibrium, free of elastic strains. The following experiments
have been made to illustrate these conditions. Two short pieces of
wood were connected by a sheet of stiff jelly 1 cm. thick, 4 cm. wide
and about 6 cm. long, as shown in Fig. 1. The jelly was cut
through along the line, ¢#t’, by a sharp knife and a straight line, AC,
was drawn in ink on its surface. The left piece of wood was then
shifted about I cm. in the direction of ¢’, and a gentle pressure was
applied to prevent the jelly from slipping on the cut surface. The
jelly was sheared elastically and the line took the position AC shown
in Fig. 2. On relieving the pressure so that the friction was no
longer sufficient to keep the jelly strained, the two sides slipped along
the surface tt’ and the line AC broke into the two parts AE and DC.
At the time of the slip A and C remained stationary, and the amount
of the slip, DE, equalled the shift which A had originally experi-
enced. A straight line, A’C’, was drawn on the jelly after the left
side had been shifted, but before the jelly slipped along tt’. At the
308
304 REID—SEISMOLOGICAL NOTES. [April 24,
time of the slip, the same movement took place in the neighborhood
of this line, as near AC, and A’C’ was broken into two parts, A’E’
and D’C’; the total slip, D’E’, being equal to DE. A third experi-
ment was tried; the left piece of wood was shifted I cm. and a
straight line was drawn across it; it was then shifted a half centi-
meter more and the straight line took the position A”C” in Fig. 3.
When the jelly slipped along the surface, ¢t’, the line broke into the
two parts, A”E” and D’’C”; the slip, D”E”, being equal to the total
displacement of the left side. Two characteristics of the movement
are to be noted; the total slip on the ruptured surface equalled the
total relative displacement of the blocks of wood; and, at the time
of the slip the blocks remain stationary, and the whole movement
at that time was an elastic rebound of the jelly to a condition of no
strain.
These experiments illustrate as well as simple experiments could
what occurred at the time of the California earthquake of April 18,
1906. Fortunately, early surveys had been made of this region
which Dr. Hayford, in the report of the California Earthquake Com-
mission has, for the sake of discussion, divided into two groups; L.,
the surveys made from 1851-65; II., those from 1874-92. A third
survey (III.) was made after the earthquake in 1906-7. These
surveys extended from Mt. Diablo, about 33 miles east of the fav’t,
to Farallon Light House, about 22 miles west of it. They showed
that between the I. and II. surveys Farallon Light House had shifted
relatively to Mt. Diablo, 4.6 feet north-northwest, practically in a
direction parallel with the fault-line; and between II. and III. sur-
1909.] REID—SEISMOLOGICAL NOTES. 305
veys it had shifted 5.8 feet more in nearly the same direction, dati
a total shift in about 50 years of 10.4 feet.
Observations in the field on the offsets of fences and roads
showed that at the time of the earthquake there was a relative move-
ment of the two sides at the fault-surface, amounting to something
like 20 feet, and it is only reasonable to suppose that this movement
was equally divided between the opposite sides of the fault. The
surveys show that the actual displacement which took place between
II. and III. diminished as the distance from the fault became
greater; on the east side the displacement practically died out at a
distance of four or five miles from the fault, and on the west side the
displacement became equal to that of Farallon Light House at about
the same distance from the fault. All the phenomena were in close
accord with the experiments described above. The main difference
consists in the fact that a straight line on the earth’s surface across
the fault and at right angles to it did not break up into two straight
lines, as in the experiment, but into two curved lines. We ascribe
this curvature to the fact that the forces which produced the dis-
placement of the ground were applied below the crust of the earth,
whereas in the experiment they were applied at the outer boundary
of the jelly.
The elastic rebound near the fault-surface, of course, took place
suddenly at the time of the earthquake; and the surveys show that
between I. and II., and between II. and III. there was a relative
shift of very extensive regions on opposite sides of the fault, but
the surveys do not determine whether these shifts took place sud-
denly at the times of the great earthquakes of 1868 and 1906, or
whether they were the effect of a slow, gradual movement con-
tinuing through the years. We must turn to other considerations
to decide this point. In the experiments we have described the
elastic rebound was greatest at the ruptured surface, became
progressively less at greater distances from this surface, and the
jelly in contact with the wooden blocks did not partake of the
movement at all. The experiments might have been varied and
instead of a slow shift of the block gradually setting up an elastic
shear, we might have set up the shear suddenly; but this was not
PROC, AMER. PHIL. SOC, XILVIII. 192 U, PRINTED SEPTEMBER 7, I909. '
306 REID—SEISMOLOGICAL NOTES. [April 24,
necessary to produce the phenomena which we know took place at
the time of the earthquake. It seems impossible to think that the
general shift was sudden; for we cannot imagine what forces could
have produced a sudden displacement, amounting to four or five
feet, of a portion of the earth’s surface covering thousands of square
miles. But we have indubitable evidence, in the foldings of the
rock common to all mountain chains, of the slow displacement of
large regions to considerable distances; and unless such a displace-
ment were slow enough to allow the rock everywhere to flow
viscously and thus adjust itself to its new position, there would be
places where the elastic stresses would from time to time be greater
than the strength of the rock and ruptures would occur causing
earthquakes.
This view of the case is so entirely in accord with the elastic
properties of rock, and with the slow movements of large regions,
familiar to geologists, that it commends itself strongly without
further argument; but there is a consideration which seems almost
decisive in its favor. In the experiments described we saw that the
relative slip at the ruptured surface was exactly equal to the total
relative shift of the wooden blocks; this, of course, was independent
of the slow or sudden nature of the shift. The slip on the fault-
surface at the time of the California earthquake was about 20 feet;
therefore the shift of the more distant regions which brought about
the break must have been as great; but the surveys show that be-
tween II. and III., the shift was only 5.8 feet, and between I. and
II., 4.6 feet; that is, in all, only about 10.4 feet since the earliest
surveys, some 50 years before the shock. We can therefore say,
definitely, that the shift which set up the elastic strains which finally
resulted in the earthquake, not only did not wholly take place at
the time of the rupture but that even fifty years earlier it had
already accumulated to about one half its final amount ; that between
the I. and II. surveys it increased to about three-quarters of this
amount, and that the last quarter was added between the II. and
III. surveys. It is hardly possible, in view of this history not to be
convinced that the shift accumulated gradually.
Since the general order of events, that is, the setting up of
elastic strains resulting in the rupture of the rocks which preceded
1909.] REID—SEISMOLOGICAL NOTES. 307
and caused the California earthquake, were the consequences not of
special conditions but of the general properties of rock, we may
make the general statement that tectonic earthquakes are caused by
the gradual relative displacement of neighboring regions, which sets
up elastic strains so great that the rock is ruptured; and that at the
time of the rupture no displacements of large areas take place, but
there occurs merely an elastic rebound, to an unstrained position, of
the lips of the fault extending but a few miles on each side of it.
It is not necessary of course that the slow displacement should
set up a simple horizontal shear, as in the case of the California
earthquake, but simply that an elastic strain of some kind should be
produced by the relative displacement of adjoining regions. This
may be due, for instance, to the slow sinking of a large region with
the production of vertical elastic shears around its boundary, and
when these shears become sufficiently strong a break will occur and
the movement of the two lips will be vertical and in opposite direc-
tions, thus producing a fault-scarp. The main, sinking region,
however, would not suddenly drop at the time of the break; there
would only be an elastic rebound around its boundaries; its own
displacement having taken place slowly over a long period of time.
The elastic strains might also be set up by a horizontal compression,
in which case the rock would be folded upward, and when the
curvature became too great it would break like a bent stick, both
sides of the broken surface flying upwards under the elastic forces
and leaving an open fissure between them. Examples of this kind
of rupture are only known on a small scale.
It is possible that the rupture may not be confined to a single
surface, but may be distributed over a number of neighboring
surfaces, and a small block between these surfaces may be displaced
as a whole; but this must be looked upon as a minor phenomenon of
the fault-zone, and is not an example of the readjustment of large
blocks.
(b) SomME CHARACTERISTICS OF SEISMOLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS.
When efforts began to be made, some thirty or forty years ago,
to produce an instrument that would record the actual movement
of the ground caused by an earthquake, the object aimed at was to
308 REID—SEISMOLOGICAL NOTES. [April 24,
“ce
produce a “steady mass,” that is, a heavy mass that would remain
at rest in spite of the movement of its support; and by recording,
either directly or through magnifying levers, its movement relative
to the ground, the hope was entertained that the actual movement
of the ground would be obtained. But the hope was futile. Every
seismograph consists essentially of two parts: a heavy mass adjusted
in a greater or less degree to a condition of neutral equilibrium,
and the drum or other surface on which the record is made. If
the mass could be adjusted absolutely to neutral equilibrium and
could be kept in that condition in spite of the movement of its
support, it would remain at rest, and would record the true move-
ment of the earth; but the size of the recording apparatus is limited
and in order that the record should be made on it, the heavy mass
must remain pretty closely in one position, which is practically in-
compatible with neutral equilibrium. It was found necessary to
keep the mass in stable equilibrium although the force brought into
play by a small displacement might be very small. If displaced the
mass would, therefore, vibrate about its position of equilibrium with
a period of its own; and the record of every earthquake is the
combination of the earth’s movement with that of the heavy mass;
and if the period of the vibrations of the earth happens to approach
that of the heavy mass, the amplitude of the latter increases greatly,
and indicates a movement of the earth much larger than actually
occurs. We cannot deduce the movement of the earth from the
record except by a careful analysis based on the mathematical theory
of the seismograph. This, fortunately, has been worked out; but,
unfortunately, it is rather complicated, and it is only in compara-
tively simple cases that it can be applied without very great labor.
The earlier investigators also thought that all solid friction or
viscous damping reduced the sensitiveness of the instrument, and
that a long period of vibration increased it. Solid friction is indeed
always harmful and should be reduced as much as possible, but
viscous damping is a great advantage and simplifies the interpreta-
tion of the record. Remembering that every earthquake consists
of vibrations of many periods, a glance at figure 4 will show the
great benefit of strong damping. The curves show the magnifying
power of the seismograph so far as it depends upon the ratio of the
1909.] REID—SEISMOLOGICAL NOTES. 309
period of the earth’s vibration to that of the seismograph itself, and
upon the viscous damping. The damping ratio is the ratio of the
amplitude of successive swings of the heavy mass, when it is
=
[iS aeen|
Le WAS A OLS SLO Lede L893 2.0
Fic. 4.
Ratio of Periods
~ 9
samog SubfuSeyy
allowed to swing freely. If this ratio is nearly 1:1, that is, if there
is very little damping and the amplitude of the swinging mass dies
310 REID—SEISMOLOGICAL NOTES. [April 24,
down very slowly, the curves show that the magnifying power for
vibrations of very short period is unity; that is, the record gives the
true amplitude of the earth’s motion; for vibrations of longer period
the magnifying power rapidly increases, and when the ratio of the
periods is unity; that is, when the period of the earth’s motion and
the free period of the seismograph are equal, the magnifying power
becomes extremely large. For still longer periods the magnifying
power again decreases and when the period becomes very long, it
becomes extremely small. Since, therefore, the vibrations of
various periods are differently magnified, it is quite evident that the
record of an earthquake would be greatly distorted, some vibrations
being unduly emphasized, and others unduly minimized. It is just
in this respect that damping is beneficial. Within limits, the in-
equality of magnifying power for various periods becomes less as
the damping ratio becomes greater; and when the damping is great
enough to reduce the relative amplitude of successive swings in the
ratio of 8:1, the magnifying power is nearly uniform for all
periods less than that of the seismograph. A seismograph, damped
to this amount, and with a period as long as the longest of those
present in the earth’s vibrations, would give a much truer representa-
tion of the earth’s movement.
The advantage of a long free period is not to increase the sensi-
tiveness of the seismograph but to increase the range of periods over
which its sensitiveness may be maintained. Contrary to a very
general belief, the magnifying power for vibrations of very short
periods is not affected by the amount of damping.
(c) SUGGESTIONS FOR A NATIONAL SEISMOLOGICAL BUREAU.
The work of collecting information regarding earthquakes, and
studying this material is so extensive that it cannot be carried out
thoroughly except with the aid of the federal government. The
United States is almost the only country of importance which does
not give governmental aid to the study of earthquakes; and, al-
though, fortunately, the larger part of this country is only subject to
occasional slight shocks, extremely destructive shocks have occurred
within our boundaries, and certain districts are frequently visited
by earthquakes which cause much damage. The study of earth-
1909. | REID—SEISMOLOGICAL NOTES. 311
quakes is a thoroughly practical subject, and if properly prosecuted,
will be of distinct benefit to the country.
Let us glance, for a moment, at the special problems which a
national bureau should take up. They may be enumerated as
follows:
1. The collection of information regarding earthquakes in the
United States and its possessions.
2. The study of the distribution of earthquakes in the United
States and the preparation of maps showing this distribution and
its relation to the geological structure.
3. The study of special regions, such as the California coast.
4. The prompt examination of a region which has ‘suffered a
severe earthquake.
5. The collection of information regarding earthquakes under
the sea, and tidal waves.
6. The study of the earthquakes of the Gulf of Mexico and the
Caribbean Sea from the records of instruments around these areas.
7. The issue of monthly bulletins, giving the records of felt
earthquakes and of seismographs in the United States.
8. The study and dissemination of information regarding the
best methods of construction in areas subject to earthquakes.
g. The theoretical study of earthquake instruments.
to. Other theoretical studies.
The variety of these studies requires the sympathetic cooperation
of many branches of the government for their successful prosecu-
tion. The Weather Bureau and the Post Office Department are
especially adapted to collect information regarding felt earthquakes ;
and the trained observers of the former, distributed as they are all
over the country, could readily add a seismograph to the instruments
under their charge and obtain important records. of distant and
near earthquakes. The Navy, through its personnel and through its
Hydrographic Office has especial facilities for collecting information
regarding earthquakes felt at sea. The Geological Survey alone
could study the relation of geological structure to the occurrence of
earthquakes ; and the Coast and Geodetic Survey has on its staff
able mathematicians capable of deducing the characteristics of the
interior of the earth from the velocity of earthquake waves through
312 REID—SEISMOLOGICAL NOTES. [April 24,
it, and of finding the answer to the question whether earthquakes
produce changes in the.earth’s magnetism.
In looking over the history of the various scientific bureaus of
the government, we see that they were, in general, started by the
Smithsonian Institution, and after their work had been thoroughly
marked out and justified, they became independent. It seems not
only conservative, but most practical, to follow this precedent in
the establishment of a seismological bureau; for the Smithsonian is
excellently adapted for prosecuting earthquake studies, and it could
probably secure the hearty cooperation of all the other departments
of the government more easily than could any single one of these
departments.
SOME BURIAL CUSTOMS OF THE AUSTRALIAN
ABORIGINES.
By R. H. MATHEWS, LS.
(Read May 21, 1909.)
Oval-shaped objects used in connection with native burials in the
valley of the Darling River, New South Wales, were manufactured
from burnt gypsum,’ reduced to a powder, and fine sand or ashes,
well compounded with water, just as we would mould anything of
the kind out of cement or plaster of paris. The necessary shape
could be given to the mass while plastic and then allowing it to dry
in the sun. These objects are in the shape of a large egg, varying
in length from about three to nine inches, by a width of say two and
a quarter inches for the smaller ones, up to double that width for the
larger. (See Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, page 314.)
They are often approximately circular in a section through the
middle part, but in other cases such a section would be ovate. Some
of them are flattish on one or both sides and are not unlike a cake
baked in an elongated form. In a few of the flattened productions,
one side is slightly concave, but whether this was intended by the
maker it is difficult to say. Probably the wet mass assumed this
shape when drying in the sun, because the heat would naturally
cause the outer margin, which would dry first, to turn upward, simi-
larly to the way a board warps toward the sun, when exposed in a
free state. Nearly all the specimens I have seen were evidently
manufactured in the way above described, but an occasional one
consists of a piece of sandstone or shale, of a light color, found in
the bush, which required but little fashioning to bring it to the
required shape.
An old aboriginal, of the Ngunnhalgu tribe, known as Harry
Perry by the white people, told me that these kopat objects, which he
* Called kopai by the natives; often erroneously written copi and kopi by
the European residents of that region.
313
314 MATHEWS—SOME BURIAL CUSTOMS [May 21,
called mirndu, were made out of powdered kopai and a little sand
or ashes, much in the way we mix up flour when making dough for
baking into bread. He said that when a native of either sex died
and was buried, the relatives came to the grave and placed these
I 2 3 4
This picture shows three medium sized cakes and one small one, all of
which are made from gypsum (kopai), as above described. I shall call them
murndu, their native name in the Ngunnhalgu tribe, which occupied the
country from about Wilcannia up to near Louth, being the tract from various
parts of which my specimens were obtained.
Fic. 1. The murndu numbered 1 in the picture, is 634 inches long, by a
maximum width of 434 inches. The thickest part, at right angles to the
width, is 37% inches. The weight of the article is 2 tbs. 9 oz.
Fic. 2 measures 234 inches in length, by a mean thickness of 2% inches.
Weight, 4% oz.
Fic. 3 has a length of a little over 77% inches and its greatest breadth is
4% inches. It is oval in section, with a thickness of 3% inches. Weight, 2
tbs. 14 oz.
Fic. 4 is 6%6 inches in length, with a maximum breadth of 34% inches.
It has a practically circular section through the middle. Weight, 2 tbs. 8 oz.
Scattered here and there through the composition of the balls are pieces
of gypsum as large as gravel, showing that the mineral was not very well
pulverized; a fact which does not surprise us, when we remember that the
natives had to burn the gypsum in a camp fire. For the same reason the
powder became mixed with small quantities of wood ashes.
kopai balls on top of the mound of earth. For example, if the body -
were that of an adult man, his widow would place a mirndu on the
ground above his head. The deceased’s brothers would each place
one or more along one side of the grave; his mother and sisters
might also lay a mirndu or two on the other side; and so on.
1909. ] OF THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 315
An old man of the Murawarri tribe informed me that in his
language the kopai ball or tablet is called yirda. When a man,
woman, or young person beyond the age of childhood, died, leaves
were strewn over the earth covering the grave, and on top of the
leaves were laid the yirda. There might be only one or two yirda
deposited, or there might be more, depending upon whether the
deceased had few or many friends. Mr. E. J. Suttor tells me that
he has seen a dozen or more of these kopai balls lying on a native’s
grave. They were put on as soon as the corpse was buried.
A Ngéumba blackfellow told me that in his tribe the name of
the kopai balls is dhaura. The gypsum was collected, burnt and
pounded fine by the women, and the men shaped the dhaura.
A resident informs me that gypsum is very plentiful on Yantara
Station, near Lake Cobham, about 120 miles northwesterly from the
Darling River, where tons of it could easily be obtained. Another
correspondent, at Kallara Station on the Darling, states that gypsum
is quite plentiful there. In fact, gypsum and pipeclay are both
easily obtainable along the valley of the Darling, as well as in the
hinterland, all the way from its junction with the Murray River up
to Brewarrina. There is also a kind of slacked or rotted gypsum
which occurs in patches, resembling slacked lime.
Old Perry and others above quoted said that the object of deco-
rating the grave in the way described was to induce the bo-ri or
spirit of the dead person, to remain in its place of sepulture and thus
prevent its roaming through the camp at night to do injury to anyone
with whom the deceased might in his or her lifetime have had a
feud. When the spirit saw that its owner’s death had been properly
mourned for in accordance with the tribal custom, it felt more
friendly towards everybody. The spirit comes up during the night
and sits on top of the grave and commences licking or sucking one
or more of the kopai balls.
Sir Thomas L. Mitchell is the first author to mention these kopai
balls. He says:
It was on the summit of a sandhill where I fixed my depot on the Darling
[Fort Bourke] that we saw the numerous white balls, and so many graves.
The balls are shaped as in the accompanying woodcut, and were made of
lime. ... A native explained one day to Mr. Larmer [a member of Sir
316 MATHEWS—SOME BURIAL CUSTOMS [May 21,
Thomas’s Staff] in a very simple manner the meaning of the white balls, by
taking a small piece of wood, laying it in the ground and covering it with
earth. Then laying his head on one side and closing his eyes, he showed that
a dead body was laid in that position in the earth, where these balls were
placed above.”
In root, Mr. G. Officer, of Kallara Station, described some kopai
balls or cakes found at a grave on Curronyalpa run on the Darling
River, about fifteen miles above Tilpa. There were thirty-nine
specimens at the grave, some of which were lying on the surface,
others were partially revealed, and the remainder were found by
digging a little way into the sandy soil underneath.
Fic. 5 is an exterior view of a kurno or widow’s cap, a being the front,
or part fitting over the forehead, whilst b represents the back of the head.
Owing to the unusually large number of pieces on this grave, I
am inclined to believe that the greater portion of them had been car-
ried from other graves in the neighborhood to this spot and hidden,
for the purpose of protecting them from the vandalism of the white
men, who were in the habit of carrying them away as curios. Mr.
Higgins, a long resident of the Darling region, writes me that two
old blackfellows had stated to him that, when the natives observed
that the white people desecrated their burying places in this way,
they themselves buried the kopai balls in the ground to keep them
2“ Three Expeditions into Eastern Australia” (London, 1838), Vol. L,
pp. 253-4. Seven kopai balls are illustrated in the woodcut referred to.
1909.] OF THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 317
out of sight. Possibly nearly all the specimens recovered by Mr.
Officer had originally been concealed with earth, but the violent
winds of that district had blown the sandy soil away and left them
visible. The grave was on a sandhill about three miles back from
the river and was therefore out of the way of the white men, whose
principal traffic lay along the course of the stream.
Helmet-shaped objects, called kurno, known to have been worn
on the heads of widows as a sign of mourning, were made from
gypsum, burnt and pounded fine, and mixed with water. A fiber
Fic. 6 shows the interior of the cap, with the marks or impression of
the net, and the size of its meshes, plainly discernible. This cap weighs 11
Ibs. 1 oz., and has been formed of kopai or gypsum in the way already de-
scribed. The specimen was found on a native grave on Lower Budda run,
Darling river. I am indebted to Mr. F. W. Beattie for the two photographs,
which he took at my request.
or rush net was first placed on the woman’s head to protect the hair,
and the soft mixture applied outside until it resembled a cap, hence
called “ widow’s caps” by the Europeans. The mixture was not all
put on at the same time but by a series of additions extending over a
few weeks. The marks of the meshes of the net are distinctly visible
in the interior of some of the “caps” of this kind which have been
preserved by white men. When the mourning cap had been worn
318 MATHEWS—SOME BURIAL CUSTOMS [May 21,
the customary time, it was taken off and placed by the widow upon
the grave of her late husband. When the deceased left a plurality
of widows, each wore an emblem of mourning and disposed of it in
the same way. If the net was firmly embedded in the dried gypsum,
it was left in it, but if the net could be readily detached it was taken
out of the cap for future use. In some cases, portions of the woman’s
hair had to be cut to get the cap off. If the net was left in the cap,
it rotted away, but its impression remained. (See Figs. 5 and 6,
pages 316 and 317.)
Sir Thomas L. Mitchell reports that on the Darling River he
found ‘Casts in lime or gypsum, which had evidently been taken
from a head, the hair of which had been confined by a net, as the
impression of it, and some hairs, remained inside.” The same author
states that, on the Murray, some distance above its confluence with
the Darling, he saw some native graves with mounds of earth raised
over them, on which were laid the “singular casts of the head in
white plaster” which he had before seen at Fort Burke. In some
cases the casts of the head were found lying beside the gypsum balls.
9
He gives illustrations of these two “ casts,’ showing also the marks
of the net inside.*
In 1838, Mr. Joseph Hawdon observed some skull-shaped caps,
made of white plaster, which he thought was obtained by burning
shells and grinding them into powder. They were laid on the grave
of a native near Lake Bonnie on the Murray River. He says that
inside the cap was a network of twine. Mr. Hawdon states that he
also noticed a great quantity of crystallized lime or gypsum in the
locality ; it was in masses some tons weight.‘
Mr. E. J. Eyre gives an example of the “ Korno, or widow’s
mourning cap, made of carbonate of lime, moulded to the head.”
The specimen illustrated by him weighed 84 lbs.®
5 Op. cit., Vol. L., pp. 253-254, and Vol. II., p. 113.
*“ Diary of an Overland Journey from Port Phillip to Adelaide in 1838”
(MSS).
®*“ Journs. Expeds. Discov. Cent. Australia” (London, 1845), Vol. IL.,
p.509, Plate: Ty Pig. 17.
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Vou, XLVIIT SEPTEMBER—DECEMBER, 1909 No. 193.
THE AMERICAN-BRITISH ATLANTIC FISHERIES
QUESTION.
By THOMAS WILLING BALCH.
(Read April 22, 1909.)
When the thirteen original colonies and the mother land closed in
-1783 by the Treaty of Paris the civil war that had raged between
them since 1775, and the United States were recognized by Great
Britain as a member of the family of nations, both parties thought
that, by that treaty of partition of 1783, they had arranged all
the differences then existing between them. But during the cen-
tury and a quarter that has elapsed since the Treaty of Paris was
signed, the United States and Great Britain have been engaged in
endless discussions and arguments concerning the proper interpreta-
tion of that treaty. Among these mooted questions, that of the
Atlantic fisheries has been a fruitful bone of contention between the
two leading Anglo-Saxon powers. At length, just as so many other
points of difference between these two nations have been settled
in peace by a reference to international arbitration, so this question
of the Atlantic fisheries is to be so arranged by referring it to the
decision of The Hague International Court. This sensible and
humane agreement of two great powers to refer the solution of this
question to that august tribunal instead of allowing it to become a
cause of war, will be another “ mile stone ” in the evolution of inter-
PROC. AMER. PHIL, SOC., XLVIII. 193 V, PRINTED JANUARY 4, IQIO.
320 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
national arbitration. In the following paper, I have briefly con-
sidered this important and live question.
Great Britain and her North American colonies shared in the
burdens and anxieties of the struggle that resulted in the overthrow
of the French power in North America, and after the cession of
Canada and the French maritime provinces around the Gulf of Saint
Lawrence to the British Empire in 1763, the motherland of England
and the British North American colonies had in common a large
heritage in northeastern America. And the fishermen of the north-
eastern colonies resorted to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and adja-
cent waters to catch their share of the rich harvest of fish that was
to be found in those waters.*
During the negotiations for peace at Paris in 1782 between the
motherland and her revolted colonies, one of the subjects that gave
much cause of trouble to the negotiators was the right to participate
in the fisheries. On November 25, 1782, the British commissioners
proposed to the American negotiators that the citizens of the United
States should have the liberty of taking fish of every kind in all the
waters of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and on all the Newfoundland
banks, and to dry and cure fish on the shores of the Isle of Sables
and of the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, so long
as those coasts remained unsettled, on “ condition that the citizens
of the United States do not exercise the fishery but at the distance of
three leagues from all the coasts belonging to Great Britain, as well
those of the continent as those of the islands situated in the Gulf
of Saint Lawrence. And as to what relates to the fishery on the
coast of the island of Cape Breton out of the said gulf, the citizens
of the said United States shall not be permitted to exercise the said
fishery but at the distance of fifteen leagues from the coasts of the
island of Cape Breton.’
By this proposition not only were American citizens prevented
*Sir George Otto Trevelyan, “The American Revolution,” New York,
1899, Part I., pp. 263, 264.
? Francis Wharton, “The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of
the United States,’ Washington, 1889, Vol. VI., pp. 74-76.
1909.] ATLANTIC FISHERIES QUESTION. 321
from drying fish on the shores of Nova Scotia, but also to catch
fish within three leagues of the shores around the Gulf of Saint
Lawrence and within fifteen leagues of the shores of Cape Breton
Island on its seaward side. Thus by this last provision the British
envoys wished to close to American citizens the right to fish in a
part of the high seas that were then recognized as a joint possession
of all mankind. These proposals were promptly rejected by the
American commissioners, and on November 28, John Adams, for
the latter, submitted a counter plan.2 Further parleys were held on
this important question. As the Americans contended firmly for
the rights of their citizens to fish on the Newfoundland banks, and
Adams said he would not sign any agreement that did not secure to
the American fishermen the right to catch fish in the Newfoundland
and adjacent waters, the British commissioners yielded the point.‘
After numerous propositions and changes, the contending negotia-
tors at length agreed on the following article that was embodied in
the treaty of peace finally signed in 1783.5
Article III. It is agreed that the people of the United States shall con-
tinue to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every kind on the Grand
Bank, and on all the other banks of Newfoundland; also in the Gulph of St.
Lawrence, -and at all other places in the sea, where the inhabitants of both
countries used at any time heretofore to fish. And also that the inhabitants
of the United States shall have liberty to take fish of every kind on such part
of the coast of Newfoundland as British fisherman shall use, (but not to dry
or cure the same on that island;) and also on the coasts, bays and creeks of
all other of his Britannic Majesty’s dominions in America; and that the
American fishermen shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the
unsettled bays,+harbors and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and
Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled; but so soon as the
same or either of them shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said
fishermen to dry or cure fish at such settlements, without a previous agreement
for that purpose with the inhabitants, proprietors or possessors of the ground.
Thus that treaty, that provided for a partition between the
motherland and her North American colonies of the territory that
they enjoyed in common, also provided for a partition in the en-
* Francis Wharton, “The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of
the United States,’ Washington, 18890, Vol. VI., p. 85.
* Francis Wharton, “The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of
the United States,” Washington, 1889, pp. 86-87.
°“ Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States of
America and other Powers since July 4, 1776,” Washington, 1889, p. 377.
322 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
joyment of the “right” to reap the benefits of the rich fisheries
around Newfoundland and in the adjoining waters that the subjects
of the motherland and the colonies had won by their joint exertions
and valor. And subject to the provisions of the treaty of peace as
embodied in its third article, American fishermen continued to take
fish in the waters around Newfoundland and the Gulf of Saint Law-
rence as formerly they had fished in those same waters as British
subjects.
When the American and the British negotiators met at Ghent
in August, 1814, to agree upon a treaty of peace to put an end to
the state of war existing between their respective countries, the
British commissioners said, among other things, that
They felt it incumbent upon them to declare that the British Government
did not deny the right of the Americans to fish generally, or in the open seas;
but that the privileges formerly granted by treaty to the United States of
fishing within the limits of the British jurisdiction, and of landing and drying
fish on the shores of the British territories, would not be renewed without
an equivalent.®
A few days later the British commissioners also brought up the
question of the free navigation for British subjects of the Mississippi
River.’ In the following November the American negotiators in
submitting a project for a treaty to their British colleagues, said,
‘
in an accompanying note that they were “not authorized to bring
into discussion any of the rights or liberties’ that the United States
had up to then enjoyed in the fisheries. After much sparring be-
tween the two groups of negotiators as to the fisheries, the naviga-
tion of the Mississippi and other points of difference, the two sides,
who were both desirous of concluding peace, agreed to exclude
altogether any mention of either the fisheries or the navigation of
the Mississippi from the treaty of peace that they concluded at .
Ghent on December 24, 1814.8
The rights of American fishermen in the northeastern American
*“ American State Papers: Class I., Foreign Relations,”
1642) Viol. Mil pi7o5:
*John Quincy Adams, “The Duplicate Letters, The Fisheries and the
Mississippi; Documents relating to transactions of the Negotiations of Ghent,”
Washington, 1822, pp. 54, 55, 184.
8“* American State Papers: Class I., Foreign Relations,
1832, Vol. III., pp. 744, 745.
Washington,
”
Washington,
1909.] ATLANTIC FISHERIES, QUESTION, 323
fisheries came to public notice a few months later. On June 19,
1815, the British sloop Jaseur, warned an American cod fishing ves-
sel, when out in the open sea some forty-five miles from Cape Sable,
not to approach within sixty miles of the coast. This act trenching
on the rights of all mankind to fish in the open sea, the British gov-
ernment disowned.® Lord Bathurst, however, at the same time said
to John Quincy Adams that while the British government “ could
not permit the vessels of the United States to fish within the creeks
and close upon the shores of the British territories,’ it would not
interfere with American fishermen “ in fishing anywhere in the open
sea, or without the territorial jurisdiction, a marine league from
Shorey 7°
The question of whether or not the third article of the American-
British treaty of peace of 1783—whereby American fishermen were
secured fishing rights in certain of the territorial waters of Britain
in North America—was abrogated by the War of 1812, was during
the next few months discussed by John Quincy Adams, American
Minister to Great Britain, and Lord Bathurst, British Minister of
Foreign Affairs. On September 25, 1815, Mr. Adams, in a com-
munication addressed to the Earl of Bathurst, argued that the treaty
of 1783 was ‘
the common understanding and usage of civilized nations, is or can
“not, in its general provisions, one of those which, by
be considered annulled by a subsequent war between the same par-
tiess. 72
On October 30 following, Lord Bathurst replied to Mr. Adams
atv length: Ple said):
To a position of this novel nature Great Britain can not accede. She
knows of no exception to the rule, that all treaties are put an end to by a
subsequent war between the same parties. ... The treaty of 1783, like many
other, contained provisions of different characters—some in their own nature
irrevocable, and others of a temporary nature. ... The nature of the liberty
”
*“ American State Papers: Class I., Foreign Relations,
1834, Vol. IV., p. 349.
** American State Papers: Class I., Foreign Relations,’
1834, p. 350.
“American State Papers: Class I., Foreign Relations,” Washington,
1834, P. 352.
“American State Papers: Class I., Foreign Relations,
1834, PP. 354, 355.
Washington,
bd
Washington,
”
Washington,
324 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
to fish within British limits, or to use British territory, is essentially different
from the right of independence, in all that may reasonably be supposed to
regard its intended duration. . . . In the third article (of the treaty of 1783),
Great Britain acknowledges the right of the United States to take fish on the
banks of Newfoundland and other places, from which Great Britain has no
right to exclude an independent nation. But they are to have the liberty to
cure and dry them in certain unsettled places within His Majesty’s territory.
If these liberties, thus granted, were to be as perpetual and independent as the
rights previously recognized, it is difficult to conceive that the plenipotentiaries
of the United States would have admitted a variation of language so adapted
to produce a different impression; and, above all, that they should have
admitted so strange a restriction of a perpetual and indefeasible right as that
with which the article concludes, which leaves a right so practical and so
beneficial as this is admitted to be, dependent on the will of British subjects,
in their character of inhabitants, proprietors, or possessors of the soil, to
prohibit its exercise altogether. It is surely obvious that the word right is,
throughout the treaty, used as applicable to what the United States were to
enjoy, in virtue of a recognized independence; and the word liberty to what
they were to enjoy, as concessions strictly dependent on the treaty itself.
On January 22, 1816, the American Minister addressed a reply
to Lord Castlereagh, who had in the meantime succeeded Lord
Bathurst as foreign secretary. He said the treaty of 1783 was
intended to arrange the whole scope of the diplomatic relations
between the two nations. He said the British note admitted that
treaties often contained recognitions in the nature of continuing ob-
ligations; and that it admitted that the treaty of 1783 was such a
treaty, except a small part of the article relating to the fisheries and
the article about the navigation of the Mississippi.
In searching for the answer of International Law to this differ-
ence of opinion, two principal sources can be looked to—the judg-
ments of courts of law and the opinions of leading international
jurists. In the first class there are two judgments, one rendered by
an American and the other by an English court, that sustain the
American contention that the third article of the treaty of 1783 was
not terminated by the War of 1812.
In the case of the “ Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts vs. The Town of Newhaven,” the Supreme Court of
the United States, in rendering judgment, was called upon to pass on
the continuance or extinguishment of treaties, especially upon that of
1783, by a subsequent war. On March 12, 1823, Mr. Justice Wash-
1909.] ATLANTIC FISHERIES QUESTION. 325
ington,'* delivered the opinion of the court. On the continuance of
treaties, he held :*+
But we are not inclined to admit the doctrine urged at bar, that treaties
become extinguished, ipso facto, by war between the two governments, unless
they should be revived by an express or implied renewal on the return of
peace. Whatever may be the latitude of doctrine laid down by elementary
writers on the Law of Nations, dealing in general terms on this subject, we
are satisfied, that the doctrine contended for is not universally true. There
may be treaties of such a nature, as to their object and import, as that war will
put an end to them; but where treaties contemplate a permanent arrangement
of territorial and other national rights, or which, in their terms, are meant to
provide for the event of an intervening war, it would be against every prin-
ciple of just interpretation to hold them extinguished by the event of war. If
such were the law, even the treaty of 1783, so far as it fixed our limits, and
acknowledged our independence, would be gone, and we should have had
again to struggle for both upon original revolutionary principles. Such a
construction was never asserted, and would be so monstrous as to supersede
all reasoning.
We think, therefore, that treaties stipulating for permanent rights, and
general arrangements, and professing to aim at perpetuity, and to deal with
the case of war as well as of peace, do not cease on the occurrence of war,
but are, at most, only suspended while it lasts; and unless they are waived by
the parties, or new and repugnant stipulations are made, they revive in their
operation at the return of peace.
,
In the case of “ Sutton vs. Sutton,” in order to decide the case
at bar, it was necessary for the British High Court of Chancery to
pass upon the continuance or abrogation of the treaty of 1794, be-
tween America and Britain, known as Jay’s Treaty, after the War
of 1812 between these two powers. Sir John Leach, Master of the
Rolls in the British High Court of Chancery held:
The relations, which subsisted between Great Britain and America, when
they formed one empire, led to the introduction of the ninth section of the
treaty of 1794, and made it highly reasonable that the subjects of the two
parts of the divided empire should, notwithstanding the separation, be pro-
tected in the mutual enjoyment of their landed property; and, the privileges
of natives being reciprocally given, not only to the actual possessors of lands
but to their heirs and assigns, it is a reasonable construction that it was the
intention of the treaty that the operation of the treaty should be permanent,
and not depend upon the continuance of a state of peace.
* Mr. Justice Bushrod Washington.
* Wharton’s “United States Supreme Court Reports,’ New York, 1823,
p. 404.
* Russell and Mylne’s “ Chancery Court Reports,” Vol. I., 676.
326 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
International publicists are not unanimous on the question
whether war terminates all or every part of treaties. Formerly
the weight of opinion held to the view that a state of war between
two nations terminated the treaties between them im toto. To-day,
however, the weight of opinion, in accordance with the trend of
International Law towards the more humane goal of mitigating and
lessening war, tends to the view that many treaties, either in their
entirety or in part, are not abrogated by a state of war by the con-
tracting states.
In support of the former or English view, there is Vattel, who
says :7°
Les conventions, les traités faits avec une Nation, sont rompus ou annullés
par la guerre qui séléve entre les contractans; soit parce qu ils supposent
tacitement l’état de paix, soit parce que chacun pouvant dépouiller son ennemi
de ce qui lui appartient, lui 6te les droits qu'il lui avoit donnés par des traités.
Phillimore, the English jurist, maintains almost the same view.**
Oppenheim, formerly of the University of London, now of Cam-
bridge University, leans rather to the modern and more liberal view.
He says 37°
The doctrine was formerly held, and a few writers maintain it even now,
that the outbreak of war ipso facto cancels all treaties previously concluded
between the belligerents, such treaties only excepted as have been concluded
especially for the case of war. The vast majority of modern writers on
International Law have abandoned this standpoint, and the opinion is pretty
general that war by no means annuls every treaty. But unanimity in regard
to such treaties as are and such as are not cancelled by war does not exist.
Neither does a uniform practice of the states exist, cases having occurred in
which states have expressly declared that they considered all treaties annulled
through war. Thus the whole question remains as yet unsettled. But never-
theless with the majority of writers a conviction may be stated to exist on
the following points:
3. Such political and other treaties as have been concluded for the purpose
of setting up a permanent condition of things are not zpso facto annulled by
the outbreak of war, but in the treaty of peace nothing prevents the victorious
party from imposing upon the other party any alterations in, or even the
dissolution of, such treaties.
*% Emer de Vattel, “Le Droit des Gens ou Principes de la Loi Naturelle.”
A Amsterdam chez E. van Harrevelt, 1775, Vol. II., p. 81.
™ Robert Phillimore, “Commentaries upon International Law,” Philadel-
phia, 1857, Vol. III., p. 457, et seq.
* LL. Oppenheim, “International Law,” London, 1906, Vol. II., p. 107.
1909.] ATLANTIC FISHERIES QUESTION. 327
Henry Wheaton, an American, says that all treaties are not ter-
minated by war.’®
Englishmen, too, holding Government positions, have thought
that not all treaties were abrogated by war. Thus in February,
1765, Sir James Marriott, the advocate-general, held that the treaty
of neutrality of 1686 between Great Britain and France was “a sub-
sisting treaty, not only because it is revived, by a strong implication
of words and facts but for that it may be understood to subsist be-
cause it never was abrogated.’*° And speaking in the House of
Commons in 1783, Charles James Fox gave it as his opinion that all
treaties were not ended by a subsequent war between the contracting
nations.”*
From 1815 to 1818 Great Britain continued to maintain, in spite
of the third article of the Treaty of 1783, that American fishermen
had no right to fish in British territorial waters; and during those
years British government vessels seized numerous American ves-
sels found fishing in British waters. These seizures and the conse-
quent partial stoppage of the fishing rights of the American fisher-
men created much bad feeling.
In order to avoid this continual cause of friction betweeh the
American republic and the British empire, which kept alive and
inflamed the bad feelings between the peoples of the two nations,
the two governments agreed on October 20, 1818, on a convention
to settle the fishery controversy on the principle of mutual con-
cessions. This convention was negotiated for the United States by
Albert Gallatin and Richard Rush, and for great Britain by Fred-
erick J. Robinson and Henry Soylburn. The fishing rights of Amer-
icans in the British territorial waters were defined in Article one
that read as follows :*
Article I. Whereas differences have arisen respecting the liberty claimed
by the United States for the inhabitants thereof, to take, dry, and cure fish
® Henry Wheaton, “ Elements of International Law,” eighth edition, edited
by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Boston, 1866, p. 340.
* George Chalmers, “ Opinions of Eminent Lawyers, on Various Points of
English Jurisprudence, Chiefly Concerning the Colonies, Fisheries and Com-
merce of Great Britain,’ London, 1814, Vol. II., p. 355.
4 Hansard, “ Parliamentary Debates,’ Vol. XVIII., London, 1814, p. 1147.
“Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States of
America and other Powers since July 4, 1776,’ Washington, 1889, p. 415.
328 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
on certain coasts, bays, harbours, and creeks of His Britannic Majesty’s
dominions in America, it is agreed between the high contracting parties, that
the inhabitants of the said United States shall have forever, in common with
the subjects of His Britannic Majesty, the liberty to take fish of every kind
on that part of the southern coast of Newfoundland which extends from
Cape Ray to the Rameau Islands, on the western and northern coast of New-
foundland, from the said Cape Ray to the Quirpon Islands, on the shores of
the Magdalen Islands, and also on the coasts, bays, harbours, and creeks from
Mount Joly on the southern coast of Labrador, to and through the Streights
of Belleisle and thence northwardly indefinitely along the coast, without
prejudice, however, to any of the exclusive rights of the Hudson Bay Com-
pany: And that the American fishermen shall also have liberty forever, to
dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbours, and creeks of the
southern part of the coast of Newfoundland hereabove described, and of the
coast of Labrador; but so soon as the same, or any portion thereof, shall be
settled, it shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at
such portion so settled, without previous agreement for such purpose with
the inhabitants, proprietors, or possessors of the ground. And the United
States hereby renounce forever, any liberty heretofore enjoyed or claimed by
the inhabitants thereof, to take, dry, or cure fish on, or within three marine
miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbours of His Britannic Majesty’s
dominions in America not included within the above-mentioned limits; Pro-
vided, however, that the American fishermen shall be admitted to enter such
bays or harbours for the purpose of shelter and of repairing damages therein,
of purchasing wood, and of obtaining water, and for no other purpose what-
ever. But they shall be under such restrictions as may be necessary to prevent
their taking, drying or curing fish therein, or in any other manner whatever
abusing the privileges hereby reserved to them.
By this new agreement both sides gave up something, and, as
they thought at the time, they also in that way expected to peace-
fully adjust the whole northeastern fishery question for the future.
The march of time and events have shown how far wrong the two
governments were in the latter hope. And to-day what is meant
by the language of the first article of that treaty is in dispute be-
tween the two powers, and the fishery question remains for all
practical purposes as unsettled to-day as it was before the negotia-
tion of the convention of 1818.
A comparison of the provisions of the Treaty of 1783 and that
of 1818 in reference to the fisheries, shows that the right of Amer-
icans to catch fish in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, on the New-
foundland Banks, and at all other places in the sea, remain the
same. In other words, that both diplomatic agreements confirm
the rights of Americans to take fish on the high seas, that is in all
1909.] ATLANTIC. FISHERIES’ QUESTION: 329
waters that are not known as territorial. But the liberty granted
to American fishermen to fish within British territorial waters by
the Treaty of 1783 is much curtailed by the convention of 1818.
The former instrument gave to Americans the liberty to fish along
the British coasts generally and “to dry and cure fish in any of the
unsettled bays, harbors and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands
and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled.” The
convention of 1818 curtailed the liberty of Americans to fish in
British territorial waters to the shores of Newfoundland, along its
southern coast from Cape Ray to the Rameau Islands and on its
western and northern sides from Cape Ray to the Quirpon Islands;
to the shores of the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of Saint Law-
rence; and to the coast of Labrador from Mount Joly indefinitely
to the east and the north.
On June 14, 1819, the British Parliament passed an act to
carry the first article of the convention of 1818, which specified the
rights of Americans to take fish in the waters around Newfoundland,
into effect.
Everything on the fishing grounds did not run smoothly. A
number of American fishing vessels were seized by the British au-
thorities. Correspondence upon the subject between the constituted
authorities of the two powers resulted from 1822 to 1826.2% Then
for a decade, comparative quiet seems to have reigned concerning
the fishery rights. In 1836, however, the legislature of Nova Scotia
began to attempt to prevent American fishing vessels from catching
fish in the waters adjoining the shores of Nova Scotia. First it
passed a “ hovering act,” to prevent American fishing vessels from
sailing within three miles of the coast; then Nova Scotia sought to
exclude American fishermen from all bays, including even the Bay
of Fundy, which is over sixty miles wide and nearly a hundred and
forty miles long, that are bound by the shores of Nova Scotia.*4
That province also attempted to deny to American vessels the right
** Senate Executive Documents, No. 100, 32d Congress, Ist Session, Wash-
ington, 1852, pp. I-55.
* Senate Executive Documents, No. Ioo, 32d Congress, Ist Session, Wash-
ington, 1852, p. 108.
330 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
of free passage through the Gut of Canso between Nova Scotia and
Cape Breton.?®
The British authorities based their rights to exclude American
vessels from fishing in the Nova Scotia bays, no matter what their
area, upon the renunciation by the United States in the first article
of the convention of 1818 “to take, dry, or cure fish on, or within
three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays creeks, or harbors of
his Britannic Majesty’s Dominions in America” outside of those of
the shores of the Magdalen Islands, the coasts of Canada and Labra-
dor east and north of Mount Joly, and a part of the shores of New-
foundland. To this preposterous claim of the British authorities,
that ran counter to the accepted Law of Nations that had gradually
opened the high seas to the vessels of all nations except within three
miles of the shore and within those bays and fiords that were less
than six miles wide, the American government protested. American
fishing vessels were seized within the Bay of Fundy by the British
authorities. Conscious that this attempt to apply territorial rights
to such a large body of water, which obviously constituted a part
of the high seas, was in contravention of the Law of Nations, the
British government in 1845 gave up its claim as to the Bay of
Fundy, stating, however, that it made this concession as to that one
bay only.2® Daniel Webster, Secretary of State for America, and
Lord Malmesbury for Britain, stated in 1852 the views of the two
countries. In the summer of the same year, Senator Cass, in the
United States Senate, spoke on this question. He illuminated the
subject by referring to the last part of article one of the convention
of 1818 which provided that “ American fishermen shall be admitted
to enter such bays or harbors for the purpose of shelter and of re-
pairing damages therein, of purchasing wood, and of obtaining
water,’ and argued that this language meant the small bays into
which vessels were accustomed to seek shelter from storms. Sen-
ator Cass said:
* Lorenzo Sabine, “Report on the Principal Fisheries of the American
Seas,’ House of Representatives, Miscellaneous Documents, No. 31, 42d Con-
gress, 2d Session, p. 221.
*® Documents of the United States Senate, Special Session called March
4, 1853, Washington, 1853, Senate Document 3, pp. 4-8, 9-21.
1909.] ATLANTIC FISHERIES QUESTION. Do]
That such was the understanding of our negotiators is rendered clear by
the terms they employ in their report upon this subject. They say: “It is in
that point of view that the privilege of entering the ports for shelter is useful,”
etc. Here the word “ports” is used as a descriptive word, embracing both
the bays and harbors within which shelter may be legally sought, and shows
the kind of bays contemplated by our framers of the treaty. And it is not
a little curious that the Legislature of Nova Scotia have applied the same
meaning to a similar term. An Act of that Province was passed March 12,
1836, with this title: “An act relating to the fisheries in the Province of Nova
Scotia and the coasts and harbors thereof,’ which act recognizes the conven-
tion, and provides for its execution under the authority of an imperial statute.
It declares that harbors shall include bays, ports, and creeks. Nothing can
show more clearly their opinion of the nature of the shelter secured to the
American fishermen.”
In 1853 America and Great Britain agreed to a convention,
whereby a settlement of all claims by citizens or corporations of
either country against the other should be referred to a mixed
commission, composed of two commissioners, one for each nation.”® .
In every case where the commissioners could not agree the con-'
vention provided that they should refer it to an umpire. In that
way the claims arising out of the seizures by the Canadian authori-
ties in 1843 of the American fishing vessel, Washington,?® while fish-
ing in the Bay of Fundy, ten miles from shore, and in 1844 of the
American schooner, 4rgus,°° on St. Ann’s Bank, twenty-eight miles
from the nearest land, were referred for settlement to the umpire,
Mr. Bates, an American by birth, residing in England where he was
a member of the banking house of Baring. In both cases he
awarded damages to the American owners, on the ground that in
neither case were the Ametican vessels fishing in contravention of
the convention of 1818.
With the object of amicably adjusting the various controversial
points that had arisen under the interpretation of the convention of
1818, the British government in 1854 sent Lord Elgin to America to
* “ Congressional Globe,” 32d Congress, Ist Session, Appendix, Washing-
ton, 1852, p. 805.
3“ Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States of
America and other Powers since July 4, 1776,’ Washington, 1889, p. 415.
9 Senate Executive Document, No. 103, 34th Congress, Ist Session, Wash-
ington, 1856, p. 184.
° Senate Executive Document, No. 113, 50th Congress, 1st Session, Wash-
ington, 1888, p. 59.
332 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
negotiate with the American government to that end. And on June
5, 1854, the Hon. William L. Marcy, the American Secretary of
State, and Lord Elgin, special British envoy, concluded a treaty
relating to the fisheries, commerce and navigation. By its provisions
liberty was extended to American fishermen to catch fish of all
kinds, ‘‘ except shellfish,” in British or Canadian territorial waters
over and above the British territorial waters in which they had the
right to fish by the convention of 1818.8 The treaty extended a
similar liberty to British subjects of fishing in the American Atlantic
territorial waters above the thirty-sixth parallel of north latitude.
It provided also for reciprocal free trade between America and the
British North American colonies in various articles; and prescribed
certain regulations for the navigation of the Saint Lawrence River,
Lake Michigan and such Canadian Canals as were necessary to an
all water way communication between the Atlantic Ocean and the
Great Lakes. The treaty went into effect on March 16, 1855, and,
according to the notice of the United States terminated March 17,
1866. During this period friction over the fishery rights of Ameri-
can fishermen reserved in British waters by the convention of 1818
were happily avoided. And upon the termination in 1866 of the
reciprocity treaty of 1854, the Canadian government, for three years,
granted licenses to American fishing vessels, at so much a ton, to
exercise the same liberties they had obtained under the treaty of
1854.
For the fishing season of 1870 the practice of granting licenses
to the American vessels was stopped, and the British government no-
tified the government of America that her Britannic Majesty’s gov-
ernment was of the opinion that by the convention of 1818 the Amer-
ican government had “ renounced the right of fishing, not only within
three miles of the colonial shores, but within three miles of a line
drawn across the mouth of any British bay or creek.” This com-
munication continued :
It is, therefore, at present the wish of Her Majesty’s government neither
to concede nor for the present to enforce any rights which are in their nature
open to any serious question. Even before the conclusion of the reciprocity
31 Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States of
America and other Powers since July 4, 1776,’ Washington, 1889, p. 440.
1909.] ATLANTIC FISHERIES QUESTION. 338
treaty Her Majesty’s government had consented to forego the exercise of its
strict right to exclude American fishermen from the Bay of Fundy, and they
are of opinion that during the present session that right should not be
exercised in the body of the Bay of Fundy, and that American fishermen
should not be interfered with, either by notice or otherwise, unless they are
found within three miles of the shore, or within three miles of a line drawn
across the mouth of a bay or creek which is less than ten geographical miles
in width, in conformity with the arrangement made with France in 1839.”
... Her Majesty’s government do not desire that the prohibition to enter
British bays should be generally insisted on, except when there is reason to
apprehend some substantial invasion of British rights. And in particular they
do not desire American vessels to be prevented from navigating the Gut of
Canso (from which Her Majesty’s government are advised they may lawfully
be excluded), unless it shall appear that this permission is used to the injury
of colonial fishermen, or for other improper objects.”
On November 25, 1870, an American vessel, the White Fawn,
was seized at Head Harbor, New Brunswick, because she had bought
herrings intended to be used as bait for fishing. Judge Hazen, of
the vice-admiralty court of St. John’s, before whom the case of
whether she was liable to forfeiture came, held that though she
had bought bait within the British territorial waters, she had not
actually proceeded to catch fish with it, and consequently that the
seizure could not be sustained.**
Previously in June, 1870, the British authorities seized in the
North Bay of Ingonish, on the shore of Cape Breton Island, the
American fishing vessel, J. H. Nickerson. They charged her with
entering to procure bait and of having obtained it. The case came
before Sir William Young in the vice-admiralty court at Halifax.
In his decision November 15, 1871, while he condemned the vessel
to forfeiture because she had bought bait in a British port preparing
to fish, Sir William Young admitted that had she merely entered to
buy bait without the intention of fishing, she would have been act-
ing within her rights.*°
? On this point see Westlake, “ International Law,” Cambridge, 1904, Part
I., pp. 184, 187. 5
3%“ Foreign Relations of the United States, 1870,’ Washington, 1870, pp.
419-420.
*“ Award of the Fishery Commission: Documents and Proceedings of
the Halifax Commission, 1877,” Washington, 1878, Vol. III., p. 3381.
5 Award of the Fishery Commission: Documents and Proceedings of
the Halifax Commission, 1877,” Washington, 1878, Vol. III., p. 3395.
Bis BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
Commenting on this decision Wharton says :*°
In the case here cited there ought to have been no conviction, even under
the statute, unless it could have been shown that the purchase was a prepa-
ration to fish within the forbidden belt, and that this was put in process of
execution. Sir W. Young’s dictum on this point, therefore, cannot be sus-
tained as a matter of municipal law. As a ruling of international law it is of
no authority, since preparing to fish without fishing is in any view not a
contravention of the treaty of 1818. But Sir W. Young’s ruling, on the merits,
coincides with that of Judge Hazen, since he concedes that merely buying
fish within the three miles is not a violation of the treaty.
In order to eliminate the friction caused by such seizures of
American vessels in the British fishing grounds, the American- Brit-
ish Joint High Commission, which met in Washington in February,
1871, to negotiate a comprehensive treaty whereby “the Alabama
Claims,” the chief cause of difference between the two countries,
should be submitted to a satisfactory form of arbitration,*” and all
other points of difference between America and England then caus-
ing friction and dispute and liable to imbitter their peaceable rela-
tions should be satisfactorily adjusted, took up for solution with
other questions that of the northeastern fisheries. In respect to that
question, the Treaty of Washington of May 8, 1871, extended facili-
ties and liberty to American fishermen to take fish in the sea fisheries,
and to British fishermen like facilities and liberty to catch fish in
the American Atlantic sea fisheries north of the thirty-ninth parallel
of north latitude.** The treaty provided for reciprocal free trade
for a term of years of “ fish-oil” and the fish taken from the sea
fisheries between America, and Canada and Newfoundland.
As a result of the Treaty of Washington of 1871, the difficulties
arising from the divergence of the views of the two governments as
to the rights of American citizens to catch fish in the British North
American colonial waters, were mostly, during the time the treaty
was in operation, smoothed over. However, in Fortune Bay, New-
foundland, on Sunday, January 6, 1878, the local inhabitants, pre-
** Francis Wharton, “A Digest of the International Law of the United
States,” Washington, 1887, Vol. III., p. 53.
“Thomas Balch, “International Courts of Arbitration, 1874,” 3d edition,
Philadelphia, 1890.
*%“ Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States of
America and other Powers since July 4, 1776,” Washington, 1880, p. 486.
1909.] ATLANTIC FISHERIES QUESTION. 335
vented from fishing by local regulations of Newfoundland, attacked
some American fishermen, who, invoking the protection of the pro-
visions of the treaty of 1871, prepared to fish.2® The Newfound-
landers destroyed the boats and nets of the Americans. In the
official correspondence that ensued, the British government argued
that the treaty granted to the Americans only the right to fish in
common with British subjects, and thus the former were amenable
to the local Newfoundland laws and regulations.
The American authorities contended that the local laws could
not be allowed to regulate or prescribe the provisions of the treaty ;
in addition they maintained that damages were due the American
fishermen because of the violent attack on them. Eventually this
dispute was adjusted by a money payment by Great Britain to the
United States of £15,000 “ without prejudice to any question of the
rights of either government under the treaty of Washington.”*? Ex-
cept for this incident the fishing seemed to proceed smoothly until,
upon the giving of due notice by the United States, the provisions of
the treaty of 1871 regulating the fisheries came to an end on July 1,
1885. Asa result of informal negotiations between Secretary Bay-
ard for America, Minister West for Great Britain, and Sir Ambrose
Shea for Canada, it was agreed that the privileges of inshore fishing
in the respective American and British waters to which the provi-
sions of the treaty had applied would be continued for the whole
season of 1885.
In the year 1886 the Canadian authorities seized many Ameri-
can fishing vessels.
On May 6 of that year the Canadian steamer Landsdowne seized
in Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, a landlocked harbor, where it
would seem ridiculous to suppose that an American vessel would
attempt to fish, the David J. Adams of the American fishing fleet.*
She was then taken by the Canadian authorities to Saint Johns, New
Brunswick, and on May to brought back to Digby, Nova Scotia,
*® House Executive Documents, No. 84, 46th Congress, 2d Session, Wash-
ington, 188o.
* “ Foreign Relations of the United States, 1881,” Washington, 1882, p. 500.
“Foreign Relations of the United States, 1886,’ Washington, 1887, pp.
341-346, 373-380, 396-404.
PROC, AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. 193 W, PRINTED JANUARY 4, IQIO.
336 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
without any explanation or hearing being given to her captain. At
Digby, a paper, which was alleged to be the legal precept for her
capture and detention, was nailed to her mast. But this alleged
writ was placed so high that it could not be read. The Canadian
authorities refused the requests of both the captain of the vessel
and of the American Consul General to be allowed to detach this
paper in order to learn its contents Neither would the captain of
the Landsdowne tell the American Consul General the ground upon
which he had captured the American vessel. After many vigorous
protests by Secretary Bayard and Minister Phelps to Lord Rose-
berry, the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Lionel Sackville West, the
British Minister at Washington, communicated to Mr. Bayard a
minute of the Canadian privy council that agreed that the condemna-
tion proceedings against the David J. Adams should be stopped
for the alleged violation of the fishery statutes, provided that the
owners of the vessels would agree that they would not base upon
this discontinuance a claim for damages or expenses. This minute
of the Canadian privy council was practically an avowal that the
seizure of the David J. Adams had been made without good or suffi-
Clenipicatlsea
On October 7, 1886, a little before midnight, the American fish-
ing vessel, Marion Grimes, arrived seeking refuge from a storm at
sea, at the outer harbor of Shelbourne, Nova Scotia.*? She an-
chored about seven miles from the port of Shelbourne, no one leav-
ing her until six o’clock the next morning. She then hoisted sail and
stood out to sea. As soon as she had started, however, the Canadian
cruiser Terror sent a boat’s crew to arrest the Marion Grimes.
Captain Landry of the American vessel, was then forced to proceed
to Shelbourne to appear before the collector of customs there. In
spite of the fact that the customs house was closed during the night,
that the storm proved he had merely sought a haven of refuge from
its violence, that he had stayed a very short time and that the Marion
Grimes was equipped only for deep sea fishing, Captain Landry
““ Foreign Relations of the United States, 1888,” Washington,*1889, Part
ep coz!
*“ Foreign Relations of the United States, 1886,” Washington, 1887, pp.
362-370.
1909.] ATLANTIC FISHERIES QUESTION. 337
was fined $400. This fine was imposed chiefly by the insistence
of Captain Quigley, commander of the Terror. Captain Landry
then applied to Mr. White, the American consular agent. Owing to
the importance to the success of the venture of the Marion Grimes
that she should not be detained, Mr. White at once telegraphed the
facts of the case to Mr. Phelan, the American Consul General at
Halifax. Mr. Phelan took the matter up with the assistant commis-
sioner of customs at Ottawa, who replied the fine could not be re-
duced, but that the $400 could be deposited at Halifax, to await a de-
cision in the case. Mr. Phelan made the deposit at Halifax and tele-
graphed to Captain Landry he was at liberty to take his vessel to sea.
On October 11, Captain Landry, whose vessel had by that time been
held up four days, telegraphed to Consul General Phelan that ‘ the
custom-house officers and Captain Quigley” refused to let him
go to sea. The next morning the consul general called on the col-
lector of Halifax to learn if the order to release the Marion Grimes
had been issued, and was told such an order was sent, “ but that the
collector and the captain of the cruiser refused to obey it, for the
reason that the captain of the seized vessel hoisted the American
flag while she was in custody of the Canadian officials.” Mr. Phelan
telegraphed this news to the assistant commissioner at Ottawa,
‘
and received a reply dated October 12 that the “ collector had been
instructed to release the Grimes from customs seizure. This depart-
ment has nothing to do with other charges.’’ The same day the col-
lector of customs at Halifax sent a dispatch to the collector at Shel-
bourne to release the Marion Grimes, in which he said that “ this de-
partment (customs) has nothing to do with the other charges. It
is the department of marines.”
What happened concerning the hoisting of the American flag by
the captain of the M/arion Grimes over his vessel was thus told by
Secretary Bayard in a dispatch to Minister Phelps:
On October 11 the Marion Grimes, being then under arrest by order of
local officials for not immediately reporting at the custom house, hoisted the
American flag. Captain Quigley who, representing, as appeared, not the
revenue, but the marine department of the Canadian administration, was, with
his “cruiser” keeping guard over the vessel, ordered the flag to be hauled
down. This order was obeyed; but about an hour afterwards the flag was
again hoisted, whereupon Captain Quigley boarded the vessel with an armed
338 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
crew and lowered the flag himself. The vessel was finally released under
orders of the customs department, being compelled to pay $8 in addition to
the deposit of $400 above specified.
For this insult to the American flag, Secretary Bayard demanded
an apology, and December 7, 1886, the British Minister at Washing-
ton, under instruction from the Earl of Iddesleigh, British Secre-
tary of Foreign Affairs, communicated to the American government
a communication from the government of the Dominion of Canada
apologizing for the hauling down of the flag of the Marion Grimes
by Canadian officials.**
Owing to this harassing of American fishermen in Canadian
territorial waters, under the guise that they transgressed the Can-
adian customs regulations, the American Congress on March 3, 1887,
approved an act whereby power was given to the president to retal-
lage upon the Canadians.
Negotiations, with a view to arrange an amicable settlement were
continued by the American and the British governments.*® Finally
a convention was agreed upon at Washington, February 15, 1888,
subject to ratification by the American Senate, the Canadian Parlia-
ment and the Newfoundland Legislature.*®
This convention provided that the width of exclusively territorial
bays, wherein American fishermen were excluded from taking fish
by the Treaty of 1818, should be extended from six miles from
shore to shore, according to the well-recognized and established
custom of International Law, to a distance of ten miles from land
to land. Thereby the extent of Canadian and Newfoundland terri-
torial waters from which American fishing vessels were barred was
increased. In addition, the convention restricted American fisher-
men from fishing in specifically named bays, such as the Baie des
Chaleurs in New Brunswick, and Fortune Bay in Newfoundland,
that varied in width from ten to twenty-one miles from shore to
““ Foreign Relations of the United States, 1886,” Washington, 1887, pp.
491, 492.
* Senate Executive Documents, No. 113, 5oth Congress, rst Session, Wash-
ington, 1888, pp. 56-65, 112-1109.
** Senate Executive Documents, No. 113, 50th Congress, rst Session, Wash-
ington, 1888, pp. 127-142. Joseph I. Doran, “ Our Fishery Rights in the North
Atlantic,” Philadelphia, 1888, pp. 54-67.
1909.] ATLANTIC: FISHERIES -QUESTION. 339
shore. In that way the extent: of territorial waters from which
American fishermen were excluded under the treaty of 1818 was still
further extended. The convention guaranteed free passage to
American fishing vessels through the Gut of Canso,** a right to
which they were entitled by the Law of Nations. The convention
also provided a right of refuge to American fishermen in Canadian
ports fleeing from the danger of storms—a right to which all sea-
faring men are entitled in the ports of all civilized countries—and,
when the American vessels needed to make repairs, the privilege
to land their catch and tranship it to America.
In view of the very great advantages that were given by this
convention to Canada and Newfoundland in exchange for rights
which American fishing vessels already possessed under the Law of
Nations without any grant by treaty from either Canada or New-
foundland, the American Senate very properly refused August 21,
1888, to confirm the convention, and so it failed to become a treaty.
During the latter part of 1890 and the beginning of 1891, Secre-
tary Blaine for America and Sir Julian Pauncefote for Great
Britain held numerous parleys concerning the fishery question as
between America and Newfoundland. Their negotiations finally re-
‘sulted in a convention known as the Blaine-Bond Convention, since
Sir Robert Bond, the Newfoundland premier, inspired the negotia-
tions of the British Minister.4* This convention was to last for
five years from the date it should go into operation, and might
thereafter be renewed from year to year. It provided that Amer-
ican fishing vessels entering Newfoundland waters should have the
privilege of buying bait on the same terms as Newfoundland fish-
ing vessels. Also it was agreed that American fishing vessels
should “ have the privilege of touching and trading, selling fish and
oil, and procuring supplies in Newfoundland, conforming to the
harbor regulations, but without other charge than the payment of
such light, harbor and customs dues as are or may be levied on New-
* Senate Executive Documents, No. 113, 50th Congress, 1st Session, Wash-
ington, 1888, p. 135. John Westlake, “International Law,’ Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, 1904, Part I., p. 193.
*°“ Convention between the United States of America and Great Britain,
for the Improvement of Commercial Relations between the United States and
Her Britannic Majesty’s Colony of Newfoundland.” This unratified agree-
ment is known as the Blaine-Bond Convention.
340 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
foundland fishing vessels.” The convention provided for a recipro-
cal free exchange of various American and Newfoundland products.
To make the convention operative the plenipotentiaries agreed that
it should be subject to ratification by the American Senate and Her
Britannic Majesty, and that it should “take effect as soon as the
laws required to carry it into operation shall have been passed by
the Congress of the United States on the one hand, and the Imperial
Parliament of Great Britain and the provincial legislature of New-
foundland on the other.” Owing to a vigorous protest from the
Canadian government, the British imperial government in a memo-
randum addressed on May 21, 1891, by the British Legation at
Washington to the State Department, notified the American govern-
ment that it could not agree to ratify the convention, “unless pari
passu with the proposed Canadian negotiations.”
A joint commission of two experts, one named by each govern-
ment, to examine and report upon the subject was agreed upon in
1892; and the commission reported early in 1897.
The northeastern fisheries question was included in the work
submitted for adjustment to the American-British Joint High Com-
mission that met and organized for business at Quebec, August 23,
1898. Owing to thé Joint High Commission being unable to come
to a satisfactory agreement concerning the eastern frontier of the
Alaska lisiére, which was then in dispute between the American re-
public and the British empire, the Joint High Commission adjourned
in. March, 1899, without having arranged the fisheries or any other
of the questions submitted to it.*®
In 1895 and again in 1898 Canada unsuccessfully sought reciproc-
ity herself. Secretary of State Hay and Ambassador Herbert took
up at Washington the discussion of the fisheries as between America
and Newfoundland and finally agreed on November 8, 1902, upon
a new convention, known after the American Secretary of State
and the Newfoundland premier who inspired the negotiations of the
British Ambassador, as the Hay-Bond Convention.*°
® Thomas Willing Balch, “The Alaska Frontier,” Philadelphia, 1903, pp.
162, 168.
° Senate Executive Documents, No. 49, 57th Congress, 2d Session. “A
Convention with Great Britain, signed at Washington on November 8, 1902,
for the Improvement of Commercial Relations with Newfoundland.”
1909.] ATLANTIC FISHERIES QUESTION. 341
As in the case of the Blaine-Bond Convention of 1891, the Hay-
Bond Convention of 1902 provided that the American fishing ves-
sels should fish in the Newfoundland waters subject to the local
Newfoundland regulations regulating Newfoundland fishing vessels.
The convention also provided for reciprocal free trade concessions,
whereby Newfoundland gained vastly more than she gave.*?
The Hay-Bond Convention remained in the Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations unacted on, for three years. On June 15,
1905, the Newfoundland government enacted an act intended to
hamper the American fishing vessels in their lawful occupation of
taking fish under the provisions of the first article of the Treaty
of 1818.°?. In the autumn of 1905, Premier Bond notified Secretary
Hay of certain concessions he was willing to have inserted in the
Hay-Bond Convention in the form of senate amendments. After
these amendments were added by the Committee on Foreign Rela-
tions, the Senate as a whole made further changes that it was so
clear would not be satisfactory to Newfoundland, that the conven-
tion as amended was never brought to a vote in the Senate and so
never became a treaty.
In view of the probable serious interference by the Newfound-
land authorities with the American fishing vessels in taking fish in
those territorial waters of Newfoundland on the southern coast of
Newfoundland from Cape Ray eastward to the Rameau Islands,
and up along the western coast of the island from Cape Ray and
round on the north coast to Quirpon Islands as guaranteed to them
by the Treaty of 1818, Mr. Root, the American Secretary of State,
wrote on October 19, 1905, to Sir Mortimer Durand, the British
Ambassador at Washington, an expression of some of the views
held on the fisheries question by the American government. Reas-
serting once again the view of the American government of the
right of American fishing vessels to fish in the treaty waters unham-
pered by the local regulations of Newfoundland, he said:°°
** Speech of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, April 2, 1903.
2 Supplement to the American Journal of International Law,’ James
Brown Scott, chief editor, January, 1907; “An Act of Newfoundland Respect-
ing Foreign Fishing Vessels,” p. 22.
%“ Foreign Relations of the United States,” 59th Congress, Ist Session,
1905. House Documents, Vol. I., Washington, 1906, p. 491.
342 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
Any American vessel is entitled to go into the waters of the treaty coast
and take fish of any kind. She derives this right from the treaty (or from
conditions existing prior to the treaty and recognized by it) and not from
any permission or authority proceeding from the government of Newfoundland.
Secretary Root also called Sir Mortimer Durand’s attention to
the evident hostile animus of the colony of Newfoundland towards
American fishing vessels as shown by the “ Foreign Fishing Act”
enacted the previous June by the Newfoundland government.
The provisions in that act that gave authority to Newfoundland
officials to search any foreign fishing vessel in any of the territorial
waters of Newfoundland and upon finding any bait or fishing ap-
parel to arrest and bring the vessel into port, Secretary Root pointed
out were a clear and palpable infringement of American rights
under the Treaty of 1818 in the treaty waters. Secretary Root also
referred Sir Mortimer Durand’s attention, as a result of the New-
foundland legislation that prohibited the sale of bait by the New-
foundlanders to American fishing vessels, to the unrest and pro-
found dissatisfaction existing among the local population living
along the shores of or near the “ Bay of Islands” on the west coast
of Newfoundland with the resulting situation and the risk of serious
violence resulting therefrom.
To these observations of the American Secretary, the British
Ambassador in reply enclosed in a note of February 2, 1906, to Mr.
Reid, the American Ambassador at London, a memorandum of Sir
Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary.®® In this memorandum
the British government replied that the privileges of fishing “ con-
ceded” by the Treaty of 1818 in some of the territorial waters of
Newfoundland were “ conceded, not to American vessels, but to in-
habitants of the United States and to American fishermen.” The
British memorandum reasserted the old view enunciated by Earl
Bathurst, that by the Treaty of 1818 “a new grant to inhabitants of
the United States of fishing privileges within the British Jurisdic-
tion” was made. In the memorandum it was further maintained
that “ American fishermen ” could not claim to exercise the right of
*“ Supplement to the American Journal of International Law,” January,
1907, p. 22.
®° “ Supplement to the American Journal of International Law,” October,
1907, P. 355.
1909.] ATLANTIC FISHERIES QUESTION. 343
fishing within the territorial waters of Newfoundland “on a footing
of greater freedom than the British subjects ‘in common with’
whom they exercised it under the convention. In other words, the
American fishery under the convention is not a free but a regulated
fishery, and, in the opinion of His Majesty’s government, American
fishermen are bound to comply with all colonial laws and regulations,
including any touching the conduct of the fishery, so long as these
are not in their nature unreasonable, and are applicable to all fish-
ermen alike.” The British note went on to argue that all American
and other foreign vessels sojourning within British territorial waters
should obey the local law, “ and that, if it is considered that the local
jurisdiction is being exercised in a manner not consistent with the
enjoyment of any treaty rights, the proper course to pursue is not
to ignore the law, but to obey it, and to refer the question of any
alleged infringement of their treaty rights, to be settled diplomati-
cally between their government and that of His Majesty.” In
reply to Secretary Root’s contention that the Newfoundland foreign
fishing-vessel act of June 15, 1905, was directed against American
fishing vessels so as to interfere with their rights in the treaty waters
the British memorandum maintained that that act, especially the
first and third sections, upon which Secretary Root had largely
based his complaint, was not aimed at the rights of American ves-
sels in particular. The memorandum referred to the seventh section
of the act, as safeguarding “the rights and privileges granted by
treaty to the subjects of any state in amity with His Majesty.” And
then the British note went on to admit that “the possession by in-
habitants of the United States of any fish and gear which they may
lawfully take or use in the exercise of their rights under the con-
vention of 1818 cannot properly be made prima facie evidence of the
commission of an offense, and, bearing in mind the provisions of
section 7, they can not believe that a court of law would take a dif-
ferent view.”
Nevertheless, this was an admission by the British Foreign Office
that the act was so framed that the Newfoundland officials could,
through legal processes, so harass and “ hold up” an American fish-
ing vessel that her trip would be rendered unprofitable, as hap-
pened in many cases during the latter eighties in the ports and terri-
3044 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
torial waters of Nova Scotia, for example in the case of the Marion
Grimes.
As a result of the views expressed by Secretary Root in his
letter of October 19, 1905, the Newfoundland government repealed
the act to which he objected and enacted on May 10, 1906, a second
act relating to fishing in her territorial waters by foreigners.°® The
new act was drawn so as to avoid for American fishing vessels the
two special provisions against which Secretary Root had complained,
but at the same time new provisions that were added gave the power
to obstruct and harass American vessels in their fishing ventures
should it become advisable.
To the views of the British government as expressed in its memo-
randum of February 2, 1906, Secretary Root replied in an elaborate
and able letter on June 30, 1906, addressed to the American Am-
bassador at London, Mr. Reid, by whom it was communicated to
Sir Edward Grey.** Secretary Root protested in this letter against
the possible inferences suggested in the memorandum that the New-
foundland government has the right to require of any American
captain entering the treaty waters or any port of the colony to fur-
nish evidence that all the members of his crew are inhabitants of
the United States. and the Secretary of State denied the assertion
that the colony of Newfoundland has the right irrespective of any
agreement on the subject, between the parties to the Treaty of 1818,
America and Great Britain, to interfere through local legislation
with the American fishing vessels in the exercise of their fishery
rights under the Treaty of 1818.
In previous correspondence regarding the construction of the Treaty of
1818, the government of Great Britain has asserted, and the memorandum
under consideration perhaps implies, a claim of right to regulate the action
of American fishermen in the treaty waters, upon the ground that those waters
are within the territorial jurisdiction of the colony of Newfoundland. This
government is constrained to repeat emphatically its dissent from any such
view. The Treaty of 1818 either declared or granted a perpetual right to the
inhabitants of the United States which is beyond the sovereign power of
England to destroy or change. It is conceded that this right is, and forever
°°“ Supplement to the American Journal of International Law,” January,
1907, p. 24.
** Supplement to the American Journal of International Law,” October,
1907, p. 364.
1909. ] ATLANTIC FISHERIES OQUESRION, 3845
must be, superior to any inconsistent exercise of sovereignty within that terri-
tory. The existence of this right is a qualification of British sovereignty
within that territory... .
For the claim now asserted that the colony of Newfoundland is entitled
at will to regulate the exercise of the American treaty right is equivalent to a
claim of power to completely destroy that right.
As a result of this vigorous exchange of views between the
America and the British government, a modus vivendi, with the
object of avoiding any clash between the American fishermen and
the Newfoundland authorities or inhabitants during the fishing
season of 1906-07, was concluded early in October, 1906, at Lon-
don, between the two governments that were parties to the Treaty
of 1818.°° The British government agreed to the use of purse
seines, and the shipment of Newfoundlanders by American vessels
outside the three-mile limit. On the other hand the American gov-
ernment waived the right of American vessels to take fish on Sun-
day, and agreed that they would pay lighthouse dues, and where
possible comply with the local customs regulations. The provisions
of the Foreign Fishing Vessels Act of 1906 of Newfoundland, and
the objectionable first and third sections of the Act of 1905 were
not to apply to American vessels. With this agreement in force,
the fishery of 1906-07 was happily accomplished without unto-
ward incident. At the beginning of September, 1907, a new modus
vivendi to apply to the next fishery season was agreed to by the
two interested nations.®® This new modus vivendi was practically
the same in its provisions as that of the previous season, except
that the American government made a further concession of waiv-
ing the use of purse seines. In July, 1908,*the modus vivendi of
the previous year was renewed for the fishery of 1908—'o9.°°
In order to finally settle this vexatious dispute between the
American republic and the British empire over the Atlantic fisheries
question, in January, 1909, the two Powers at a conference held in
Washington agreed to refer the matter to the decision of The Hague
*“ Supplement to the American Journal of International Law,” January,
1907, Pp. 27-31.
°“ Supplement of the American Journal of International Law,” October,
1907, PP. 375-377.
° « Supplement of the American Journal of International Law,” October,
1908, pp. 327-328.
346 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
International Court. At this conference, America was represented
by Secretary of State Root, and the British empire, by Ambassador
Bryce, who was aided by Mr. Aylesworth and Mr. Kent respectively
for the Dominion of Canada and the Colony of Newfoundland.
In deciding upon the American-British Atlantic fisheries dispute
The International Court at The Hague will be called upon, accord-
ing to the terms of the Root-Bryce Treaty of January, 1909, to give
its decision upon first the right of American fishing vessels under
Article I. of the Treaty of 1818 to take fish in the bays and gulfs,
more than six miles wide; whether the rights retained to inhabitants
of the United States by the Treaty of 1818 concluded between Amer-
ica and Great Britain, two sovereign States members of the family
of nations, can be regulated at will by the legislation of either Great
Britain herself or one of her colonies or whether all changes or reg-
ulations applicable to the treaty can only be made by a mutual agree-
ment between the original high contracting parties, the American
republic and the British empire; and also, whether the inhabi-
tant of the United States have the liberty under Article I. of the
Treaty of 1818 to take fish in the territorial waters along that part
of the southern coast of Newfoundland which extends from Cape
Ray to the Rameau Islands, or along the western and northern
coast of Newfoundland from Cape Ray to Quirpon Islands or in
the territorial waters of Canada around the Magdalen Islands?
By an agreement, expressed in two letters exchanged on January
27, 1909, between Secretary Root and Ambassador Bryce, the right
of American vessels to pass through the Gut of Canso and to take
fish in the Bay of Fundy are not to be submitted for decision to the
International Court at The Hague.
While the right of “innocent passage” by American vessels
through the Gut of Canso will not be submitted to The Hague Court,
yet the raising of that point by Canada in the past is too illumi-
native of the whole fishery question to pass it over without notice.
About 1839 the point was raised by the authorities of Nova
Scotia that the Gut of Canso,*! a passage of salt water connecting
the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence that passed
* Senate Executive Documents, No. 100, 32d Congress, Ist Session, Wash-
ington, 1852, pp. 73-74.
1909.] ATLANTIC FISHERIES QUESTION. 34
between the Province of Nova Scotia and the neighboring island of
Cape Breton, a part of the colony of Nova Scotia, was not a free
passage to American vessels, because the Gut of Canso, which at
some points was only a mile wide, belonged as territorial waters to
Nova Scotia. Though this attempt to lay a claim to close the Gut
of Canso as a free highway of the sea to American vessels was not
seriously pushed at the time, the effort to claim the right to close it
to American vessels was renewed in the Bayard-Chamberlain Con-
vention of 1888.°? In that instrument Canada proposed to guaran-
tee to American fishing vessels the free passage through the Gut of
Canso. But Canada was thereby undertaking to concede to Amer-
ica what already belonged to America as a right by the Law of Na-
tions. Not only in 1888 but long before that it was a well-estab-
lished principle of International Law that passages of the sea con-
necting two large bodies of water, were open to navigation by ves-
sels of all powers.
Westlake, who for twenty years held the chair of International
Law in Cambridge University, and for six years was one of the
English members of The Hague International Court and to-day is
in the forefront of international jurists, in speaking of the right of
passage through straits, says :°°
If the strait connects two tracts of open sea, as the Gut of Canso between
Cape Breton Island and the mainland of Nova Scotia, or the Straits of
Magellan and the other passages in the extreme south of America, the lawful
ulterior destination is clear, and there is a right of transit both for ships of
war and for mechantmen.
Many other authorities can be cited to the same purpose, but
in view of this clear statement by Westlake, who, together with
Holland of Oxford, is one of Great Britain’s leading living authori-
ties on questions of International Law, it does not seem worth while.
The attempt at various times to include within the jurisdiction
of Canada and Newfoundland bays and gulfs more than six miles
in width, such as the Bay of Fundy and the Baie des Chaleurs, for
instance, is an attempted restriction on the freedom of the high
seas.
* Senate Executive Documents, No. 113, 50th Congress, 1st Session, Wash-
ington, 1888, p. 135.
* John Westlake, “International Law,” Part I., “ Peace”; Cambridge,
1904, Pp. 193.
348 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
Ever since the famous argument between Grotius and Selden
as to whether the high seas should be free to the vessels of all the
world or whether parts, greater or smaller as the case might happen
to be, of the high seas should be subject to the jurisdiction of one
nation, the verdict of the world has leaned more and more towards
the view of the famous Hollander.** Practically all international
jurists are agreed now that the high seas are free and that the terri-
torial waters of a nation only extend to three miles from land and
over those bays or portions of them that are not more than six miles
across from shore to shore.
The learned Belgian jurist, Mr. Justice Nys, a member of the
Court of Appeals of Brussels and of The Hague International Court,
thus sums up the question of the freedom of the high seas. He
says :©
La haute mer, la pleine mer, la mer pour employer la désignation usuelle,
est libre. Elle n’est pas susceptible de possession et de propriéte a cause de
sa nature physique, de la mobilité et de la fluidité de ses flots, de l’étendue
sur laquelle devrait s’appliquer la sanction des ordres ou des prohibitions;
elle ne peut tomber sous le droit de police, de suprématie, d’empire d’un ou
de plusieurs Etats a cause de l’egalité juridique des membres de la société
internationale.
Oppenheim who now sits as successor to Westlake, by whom he
was chosen, in the chair of International Law at Cambridge Univer-
sity, holds that many enclosed seas that are connected with the ocean
by passages less than six miles in width are as free to navigation
* Le Comte de Garden, “ Traité Complet de Diplomatie,” Paris, 1833, Vol.
I., pp. 402-404. A. G. Heffter, “Le Droit International de l'Europe; Qua-
trieme édition Francaise, augmentée et annotée par F. Heinrich Geffcken,”
Berlin and Paris, 1883. F. de Martens, “Traité de Droit International,”
traduit du Russe par Alfred Léo, Paris, 1883, Vol. I., pp. 491-494. Alphonse
Rivier, “ Principes du Droit des Gens,” Paris, 1896, Vol. I, pp. 236-237.
Hannis Taylor, “A Treatise on International Public Law,” Chicago, 1901, pp.
290-294. John Westlake, “International Law,’ Cambridge, 1904, Part I., pp.
160-163. Ernest Nys, “ Les Origines du Droit International,” Paris and Brussels,
1894, pp. 379-387; “Le Droit International, Les Principes, les Théories, les
Faits,” Paris and Brussels, 1905, Vol. II., pp. 135-138. L. Oppenheim, “ Inter-
national Law,’ London, 1905, Vol. I., pp. 300-306. George B. Davis, “ Ele-
ments of International Law,’ New York, 1908, p. 57 et seq.
*® Ernest Nys, “Le Droit International, Les Principes, les Théories, les
Faits,” Paris and Brussels, 1905, Vol. II., p. 134.
1909. ] LEAN ISH RIES OuUESPON. 349
for the vessels of all nations as any part of the ocean. He says:*
The enclosure of a sea by the land of one and the same state does not
matter, provided such a navigable connection of salt water as is open to
vessels of all nations exists between such sea and the general body of salt
water, even if that navigable connection itself be part of the territory of one
or more riparian states. Wheras, therefore, the Dead Sea is Turkish and
the Aral Sea is Russian territory, the Sea of Marmora belongs to the open
sea, although it is surrounded by Turkish land and although the Bosphorus
and the Dardanelles are Turkish territorial straits, because these are now
open to merchantmen of all nations.
So, too, Hudson’s Bay is a part of the high seas, for the en-
trance to that large interior sea to the vessels of all nations is through
Hudson Strait that is much more than six miles wide.
It is only within territorial waters that a state can by its legisla-
tion restrict vessels of other nations from doing all those things that
the vessels of all nations can properly do upon the high seas. What
are the territorial waters of each state?
Phillimore, judge of the British High Court of Admiralty, says :*
The limit of territorial waters has been fixed at a marine league, because
that was supposed to be the utmost distance to which a cannon-shot from
the shore could reach. The great improvement recently effected in artillery
seems to make it desirable that this distance should be increased, but it must
be so by the general consent of nations, or by specific treaty with particular
states.
The three-mile limit as the extent of the territorial waters of
nations along their sea front, except where a modification has been
made by treaty between the contracting parties, is to-day universally
recognized.
With the aim of bringing about a universal change in the extent
of the territorial belt of waters along the sea front of nations, the
Institute of International Law in March, 1894, after careful con-
sideration and weighing the arguments pro and con, gave it as its
opinion that the belt of territorial waters along the coast line of each
nation should be extended from three to six miles from low water.®*
*®T. Oppenheim, “ International Law,” London, 1905, Vol. I., p. 307.
*% Sir Robert Phillimore, “Commentaries upon International Law,” second
edition, London, 1871, Vol. I., p. 237. Phillimore was a member of Her
Majesty’s Privy Council and judge of the High Court of Admiralty. The
first edition of this volume appeared in 1854.
8 Charles Calvo, “ Le Droit International,’ Paris, 1896, cinquiéme edition,
Vol. VI., p. 67.
350 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
And that in the case of bays the line from headland to headland that
should show where the open sea ended should be twelve miles across,
except in those cases where immemorial usage had consecrated a
greater distance. In view of the modern development of arms and
the more rapid means of communication and the vast expansion of
commerce, this would seem to be a most admirable change in the
universally existing recognition of the extent of territorial waters.
But the Institute of International Law is a body of gentlemen
learned in the Law of Nations and not a congress of representatives
from all the nations of the earth with plenary powers to change the
Law of Nations for the best interests of mankind. Consequently,
however advisable the recommendation of the institute may be, it
cannot change the extent of territorial waters unless the nations
of the world agree. And America has not joined in any such
agreement. But even if the American government had joined the
governments of other nations to double the extent of the territorial
belt of water, yet such an agreement would not alter the extent of
the rights of American fishermen to catch fish in the Bay of Fundy,
the Baie des Chaleurs and other smaller bodies of water as defined
in the first Article of the Treaty of 1818. The limit of the area
over,which American fishing vessels can take fish along the coasts
of the maritime provinces of the Dominion of Canada and New-
foundland, is limited only by the recognized three mile limit, except
that in the treaty waters American vessels have rights to catch fish
that the vessels of other nations do not possess.
In addition to attempting to offer to America the right for Ameri- |
can fishing vessels to navigate the Gut of Canso and also to curtail
the area over which they possess the right to catch fish in the high
seas close to the shores of Canada and Newfoundland, both Canada
and Newfoundland have sought by various local legislation to so
hamper American fishing vessels in their just rights to take fish as
to make their occupation unprofitable.
The aim of all these various attempts of Canada and Newfound-
land to nullify the privileges of American fishing vessels as de-
fined by article one of the Treaty of 1818 has been to force America
to grant to Canada and Newfoundland favorable trade reciprocity.
But the contracting parties to the Treaty of 1818 were neither Can-
1909.] ALUAN TIC PISHERIES QUESTION: 351
ada nor Newfoundland. The contracting parties to that treaty were
the American republic and the British empire. Of what use would
it be for these two sovereign members of the family of nations to
agree solemnly by treaty to define the respective rights of their sub-
jects in the Atlantic fisheries, if power was reserved to either party
by local legislation to completely nullify the plain and evident intent
of the treaty which recognizes that American fishing vessels pos-
sessed in those waters certain rights and privileges to catch fish that
the fishing vessels of all other nations do not possess under the
ordinary Law of Nations. As Vattel justly says, treaties are sacred
contracts between nations.*®
The Brazilian jurist Calvo, after quoting in full the text of
article one of the Treaty of 1818, says of the purpose of this
article :*°
Rien dans cet article ne permet d’inférer que la Grande-Bretagne ait
conféré aux Etats-Unis le droit de péche. Ceux-ci n’ont fait que renoncer a
certains privileges, ce qui implique, de la part de l’Angleterre, que ces privi-
léges existaient et que les Etats-Unis ont uniquement cédé une fraction de
leur droit souverain. La Grande-Bretagne n’a pas dit aux Etats-Unis: “ Venez
seulement pour chercher un abri ou faire de l’eau ou du bois,” mais les Etats-
Unis disent a la Grande-Bretagne: “ Nous, les proprietaires en commun de
ces pécheries consentons a ne pas prendre de poissons et a ne pas les secher
ou les saler dans certaines limites, et 4 ne pas abuser d’ailleurs de privileges
qui nous sont concédés.”
And he goes on to say :**
Jamais loi municipale ne saurait prévaloir sur une convention internationale.
The uselessness for members of the family of nations to make
certain agreements by formal treaty, if those agreements could be
nullified by the local legislation of a colony or province or state of
a party to the treaty contract seems self-evident. In the constitution
of the United States provision is made to insure the maintenance of
® Vattel, “Le Droit des gens,” Paris and Lyons, 1820, Vol. II., p. 25.
“Charles Calvo, “Le Droit International Théorique et Pratique,” cin-
quiéme édition. Vol. I., Paris, 1896, pp. 486-487.
™ Charles Calvo, “Le Droit International Théorique et Pratique,” cin-
quiéme édition, Paris, 1896, Vol. I., pp. 487-488.
PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC,, XLVIII. 193 X, PRINTED JANUARY 5, IQIO.
352 BALCH—THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22,
international treaties entered into by the American federal govern-
ment. Article sixth of the American Constitution says:
All treaties made or which shall be made, under the authority of the
United States shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every
State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any
State to the contrary notwithstanding.
The chief powers of Europe at the London conference in 1871,
on January 5, adopted, as the Russian jurist de Martens tells us, this
principle :”
The plenipotentiaries of the North German Confederation, Austria-
Hungary, Great Britain, Italy, Russia and Turkey, to-day assembled en confé-
rence, recognize that it is an essential principle of the Law of Nations that no
power can liberate itself from the engagements of a treaty, nor modify its
stipulations except with the consent of the contracting parties obtained by
means of an amicable arrangement.
Thus Great Britain has affirmed the sanctity of treaties in a for-
mal manner. Very properly America maintains that any modifica-
tion of the rights of American fishing vessels under the Treaty of
1818, whether by amendment to that treaty or by police or maritime
or customs or other regulation, can only be accomplished by agree-
ment between the two parties to the contract known as the Treaty
of 1818, the governments of the United States of America and of
the British empire. Were an opposite doctrine recognized by the
Hague International Court, what would become of the validity of
many international treaties in force to-day between the nations of
the earth. At the bar of the Hague International Court the United
States of America will appear to defend the maintenance and sanc-
tity of international contracts known under the generic name of
treaties.
™ For the argument of the strict constructionists see William E. Mikell,
“The Extent of the Treaty Making Power of the President and the Senate
of the United States,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American
Law Register, 1900, pp. 435-458, 528-562.
For the argument of the loose constructionists see Chandler P. Anderson,
“The Extent and Limitations of the Treaty Making Power under the Con-
stitution,” The American Journal of International Law, July, 1907, pp. 636-670.
See also the exhaustive treatise of Charles Henry Butler, “ The Treaty-
making Power of the United States,’ New York, 1902.
EF. de Martens, “ Traité de Droit International,” traduit du Russe par
Alfred Léo, Paris, 1883, Vol. I., p. 546.
1909. ] ATLANTIC FISHERIES QUESTION. 353
All through the negotiations relating to the fisheries question
since the treaty of partition of 1783, the British empire and her two
colonies of Canada and Newfoundland have sought to cut down the
rights assigned by the partition treaty of 1783 to American citizens
to catch fish in the territorial waters adjoining the Gulf of Saint
Lawrence and the adjoining regions. Some of those rights America
consented in the formal Treaty of 1818, concluded with the British
imperial government, to give up. But not satisfied with the substan-
tial gains then obtained, both Canada and Newfoundland through
one subterfuge or another, have again and again tried to obtain
more concessions from America by offering a shadow, as guarantee-
ing the right, for example, for American fishing vessels to navigate
the Gut of Canso, for a reality. As in the case of the Alaska fron-
tier where Canada’s land claims grew greater with the passing of the
years, so in this fisheries dispute the position of America on the
one hand, and of Great Britain, Canada and Newfoundland on the
other hand, is well summed up in the words with which Count Nessel-
rode, nearly ninety years since, contrasted the positions of the Musco-
vite and the British empires when they were discussing their Russo-
British American frontier :
Ainsi nous voulons conserver, et les compagnies angloises veulent acquerir.
THE BURNING BUSH AND THE ORIGIN OF JUDAISM.
Bye JAIUIL, JEUNE Ie.
(Read April 23, 1909.)
Last autumn four members of our Society were invited by the
German Emperor to attend the first performance of Friedrich
Delitzsch’s Sardanapal at the Royal Opera in Berlin. The climax
of this historical pantomime, which is based on Lord Byron’s
tragedy Sardanapalus and a ballet of Paul Taglioni,* is the
great pyre in the last scene, on which Sardanapalus burns himself
with his queen, his attendants, and his treasures. The whole stage
is full of fire; but, of course, nothing is burnt. The blaze is pro-
duced by steam with reflected red light. In the same way you see
the stage full of fire in the last scene of Richard Wagner’s
musical drama Die Walkiire. \Wodan passes through the flames,
but he is not scorched.
The black cloud over Mount Vesuvius has a fiery aspect at night,
but this is merely the reflex of the fiery lava within the crater. The
pillar of smoke over a volcano consists chiefly of steam and ashes.
Volcanic eruptions are often not central, but lateral. The great
eruption of Mont Pelé in the northern part of the island of
Martinique, on May 8, 1902, was a lateral eruption. In the case
of Mount Etna, lateral eruptions are more frequent than eruptions
from the central crater. There are several hundred parasitic craters
on the flanks of Mount Etna, especially on the southern side, in
the zone between an altitude of 1,000 and 2,000 meters. This region
is wooded. The volcano is covered with trees up to an altitude of
2,200 meters, and shrubs grow up to 2,500 meters. If there should
be in this region a cloud of steam over a lateral crater, the shrubs
around it might seem to be afire without being consumed. This, I
*Compare Sardanapal. Grosse historische Pantomime in 3 Akten oder
4 Bildern, unter Anlehnung an das gleichnamige Ballet Paul Taglioni’s
neu bearbeitet von Friedrich Delitzsch (Berlin, 1908).
304
1909.] HAUPT—THE BURNING BUSH 355d
think, is the great sight (Exodus, iii., 3) which Moses observed on
the Mountain of God about 1200 B. c. .
Mount Sinai is generally supposed to be a mountain on the so-called
Sinaitic Peninsula between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Akaba.
The majority of scholars believe that the Mountain of the Law was
the present Jabal Mtisd (the Mountain of Moses) which is the
highest point of this barren peninsula in the south, rising to a height
of 7,362 feet ; but the two famous Egyptologists Richard Lepsius
and Georg Ebers claimed this distinction for the Jabal Serbal in
the northwest, which is 6,731 feet high.
Mount Sinai, however, cannot be located on the Sinaitic Penin-
sula; it was a volcano in the land of Midian on the northeastern
shore of the Red Sea. Midian is not the name of an Arabian tribe ;
it denotes the Sinaitic amphictyony, 7. e., the league of worshipers of
JHvH? in the neighborhood of Elath, the Edomite port at the north-
eastern end of the Red Sea.
Midian is derived from the old Sumerian word din which means
in Arabic not only judgment, but also religion. Law and religion
are intimately connected in the East. The Jewish religion is known
as the Mosaic Law. In the New Testament the Jewish theologians
are called Jawyers.? The Arabic term fakih denotes a scholar versed
both in jurisprudence and theology.
Midianite is not a name like Arabic, but a term like Islamic.
Priest of Midian means a priest of the Sinaitic amphictyony. The
name of Moses’s father-in-law was Jethro, which may be connected
with the name of the Egyptian sun-god, Ra, which we find also in
Potiphera‘ and Potiphar (for Petiphro; compare Jether for Jethro).
In the original tradition, Moses was the son-in-law of a priest of
On or Heliopolis, the city of the sun-god. Moses’s Egyptian wife is
contemptuously referred to (in Numbers, xii., 1) as the Ethiopian
*For Juvy (i. e., Jahvéh or Yahwdy, not Jehovah) see the notes on the
translation of the Psalms, in the Polychrome Bible, page 164, line 4. The
first syllable of Janven should be pronounced like the jah in Hallelujah.
Compare Matthew, xxii. 35; Luke, vil., 30; x., 25; KI AGe SLi exten 3:
It might be well to add that publican means toll-gatherer. Sinner = unortho-
dox; compare John, vii. 40.
396 HAUPT—THE BURNING BUSH [April 23,
woman, 7. ¢e., the negress.* Afterwards this tradition was trans-
ferred to Joseph (Genesis, xli., 45).
Moses is not a proper name, but a title meaning Deliverer. He
was an Edomite, but the son-in-law of an Egyptian priest of Helio-
polis, near the western end of Goshen where the Edomite ancestors
of the Jews lived before the Exodus. According to Acts vii., 22,
Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
If we bear this in mind, we can appreciate the remarkable state-
ment in Deuteronomy, xxiii., 8 (which was written about 690 B. Cc.) :
Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother; thou shalt
not abhor an Egyptian, for thou wast a stranger in his land. The
children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation
of Juvu in their third generation.
The Edomites were not enemies of their brethren in Jerusalem
at the time of Nebuchadnezzar (about 586 B.c.) but they were
unfriendly disposed toward the Jews at the time of Judas Mac-
cabeus (about 164 B.c.). Both Moses and David were Edomites.
Moses established the Jewish religion, David founded the kingdom
of Judah. Moses corresponds to Mohammed, David to Omar. The
Levites were Edomite priests. According to Exodus, ii., 1, Moses’s
father belonged to a priestly family (béth Jéwi) and Moses’s mother
was the daughter of a priest (bath léwi).°
Jewish monotheism is derived from Egypt. Monotheism can
have originated only in a highly civilized country as a reaction
against excessive polytheism. About 1350 n.c. Amenophis IV. of
Egypt endeavored to supersede the old polytheistic religion by the
* Compare Jeremiah, xiii., 23 and my paper The Aryan Ancestry of Jesus
(Chicago, 1909) page 9= The Open Court (April, 1909) page 201. The
admixture of African blood in the Semitic race may be tested by the
new sero-diagnostic methods (based on deviation of the complement—
whereby the phenomenon of hemolysis is inhibited) which were discussed
by H. Sachs at the 39 congress of German anthropologists, held at Frank-
fort, Aug. 4, 1908. Compare Max Seber, Moderne Blutforschung und
Abstammungslehre (Frankfurt am Main, 1909) page 44. See also, below,
page 365, note 44.
°A léwi (for lawi) is a méréh; Arab. dlwa is equivalent to Heb. horah.
In Exodus, iv., 14; Judges, xvii, 7 léwt evidently means priest. For éth
before bath léwi see Haupt, The Book of Esther (Chicago, 1908) page
18, line 6.
1909.] AND THE ORIGIN OF JUDAISM: 357
exclusive worship of the Sun.* He prohibited the cult of Amon and
of all other gods; their images were destroyed, and their names
erased from the walls of the temples and other public buildings.
After his death, however, a reaction set in, and his innovations were
abolished.*. But some priests of this monotheistic cult may have
survived in Heliopolis, and Moses’s father-in-law may have been
one of them.
Hobab is not a proper name, but a term for father-in-law.®
Jethro, the hdbab of Moses, was attached to the Edomite clan
Reuel. JHVH was an Edomite god. The meaning of the name is
He who causes to be. In Exodus, ii, 14 we must read instead of
the meaningless ehyéh ashér ehyéh, | am that I am: ahyéh ashér
thyéh,® I cause to be what is.1° The old name of this god of the
Edomites was Esau, which is a dialectic form of the Hebrew word
‘Oseh (for ‘adsai) Maker. The Jews are the descendants of the
Edomite worshipers of JHvH,'? who were united under the leader-
ship of David about 1000 B.c. David belonged to the Edomite clan
Ephrath in one of the fertile valleys about Hebron. He was not a
native of Bethlehem, neither was any son or descendant of David
ever born at Bethlehem.
*An uncle of Amenophis IV. was high-priest in Heliopolis; see Zeit-
schrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, vol. \xiii., page 247,
line 29. Userkaf, the first king of the Fifth Dynasty, is said to have been
high-priest of Heliopolis prior to his accession to the throne (about 2680
B. C.). Compare below, page 368, note 59.
“Compare the notes on the translation of Joshua, in the Polychrome
Bible, page 4o.
*In the Targum Jerushalmi ii. we find (Deuteronomy, xxvii., 13) the
feminine habibthd, lit. the beloved, for the Heb. héthénth, mother-in-law.
* The pronunciation yihyéh is incorrect. We say Israel, not Yisrael. Con-
trast the dissertation of Erich Ebeling, Das Verbum der el-Amarna-
Briefe (Berlin, 1909) page Io.
This would be in Assyrian: usdbSa sa ibdsi; in Arabic: ukduwinu
ma yakunu.
™ The majority of them were Edomites, but they comprised also Horites,
Canaanites, Ishmaelites, Moabites, Hittites, Amorites, Philistines, Egyptians,
and Ethiopians, 7. e., a mixture of Asiatic, African, and European elements.
For the Philistines compare the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical
Archeology, vol. xxxi. (London, 1909) page 233. Even the Phenicians may
have come from Europe. Herodotus, who states (i., I; vii, 89) that the
Phenicians were originally settled on the Red Sea, confounds the Phenicians
with the Jews.
358 HAUPT—THE BURNING BUSH [April 23,
Judah (Yéhtidah) is not the name of an Israelitish tribe, but a
feminine collective to yéhddéh, he confesses.1* King of Judah is
originally a title like the Islamic Commander of the Faithful. The
worship of JHVH was introduced in Israel by David (about 1000
B.C.) after he had conquered the northern confederation of Israel-
itish tribes; but after the death of Solomon (about 930 B.c.) the
Israelites relapsed into their former idolatry.13 The Israelites have
vanished ; they survive only, mixed with numerous foreign elements,
including a considerable percentage of Aryan colonists,’* in the
Samaritans whose number is now reduced to 170 souls.
The Israelites were not in Egypt, but the Edomite ancestors of
the Jews were in Egypt (about 1230 B.c.) under the reign of
Merneptah,’®> whose name appears in the Old Testament as Me-
nephtoah.1® At that time the Israelites were settled in Palestine,
“The relation between the participial form mddéh, confessor, and the old
imperfect form yéhédéh, he confesses, is the same as the connection between
the modern Jewish name Meyer (Heb. Me’ir) and the old name Jair (Heb.
Yair) which appears in the New Testament as Jairus.
* Compare the translation of Joshua, xxiv., 2. 14. 23, in the Polychrome
Bible, and the Notes, page gt, lines 3-6; also Genesis, xxxv., 2; xxxi., IO.
“In the second half of the eighth century B.c. the Assyrian kings sent
Babylonian colonists from Babylon and Cutha to Samaria; they also trans-
ferred there Aryan colonists from Hammath and other Galilean cities; see
Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, vol. xi., columns 237-230.
* Canon Cheyne notes in his Encyclopedia Biblica, col. 1182, below,
that thirty years ago Mr. Baker Greene (Hebrew Migration, pp. 37. 117.
199. 310) brought the passage in the Anastasi papyrus (vi. 4, 14, where a
high official asks permission for the entrance into Egypt of tribes from the
land of Aduma) into connection with the settlement of Hebrew tribes, such
as the Josephites and, as he thought, the Kenites——The Josephites, however,
were not in Egypt. The ancestors of the Israelites came from the pasture
grounds south of Haran in Mesopotamia, and invaded Palestine from the
northeast ; whereas the ancestors of the Jews, who had sojourned in Egypt,
came from Elath, at the northeastern end of the Red Sea, and invaded Pales-
tine from the south. The Israelites settled in Palestine about B.c. 1400;
the Jews came about the end of the eleventh century. Compare below, page
366, line 8.
*® Heb. ma‘yan mé nephtéh (Joshua, xv., 9; xviii, 15) does not mean
The fountain of the waters of Nephtoah, but The Fountain of Me(r)neptah.
The modern name of this place is Liftad. In this village, about two miles
northwest of Jerusalem, there is a large fountain, the waters of which are
collected in a great walled reservoir of very early origin. The locality is
undoubtedly ancient. See Cheyne’s Encyclopedia Biblica, col. 3394.
1909.] AND THE ORIGIN OF JUDAISM. 359
in the region of Mount Ephraim. At the time of Gideon (about
1100 B. Cc.) the Israelitish peasants in Palestine were idolaters, while
the invading Midianites were worshipers of JHvH. The legends
of the ancient Israelites have been subsequently conformed to
Judaic standards, just as the traditions of South Arabia have been
systematically altered by the followers of Mohammed. The names
of the ancient Israelitish gods in the old legends were afterwards
replaced by the “ Angel of Juvu”* or JuvH.1® Gideon’s name
Jerubbaal® shows that he was not a worshiper of JHVH.
If the Midianite bedouins had not been defeated by the Israelitish
peasants, they would have conquered Palestine from the east. As
they were repulsed at that time, they afterwards invaded Palestine
from the south.
It is possible that in the time of Gideon the son of an Israelitish
herdsman was sold by Midianitish Ishmaelites (or Ishmaelitish
Midianites)*° as a slave into Egypt, where he afterwards attained a
prominent position. But the statement that this happened to the
ancestor of Ephraim and Manasseh is a later modification of the
original tradition. As the Israelites never were in Egypt, the
official historians tried to create the impression that Ephraim and
Manasseh had been born in Egypt, and that the Israelites had been
from the beginning worshipers of JHvu. The story of Joseph
seems to have been influenced in some respects by the ancient
Egyptian poetic autobiography of Sinuhet (about 2000 B.c.).
Lifta = Nephtah; change of | and m is not exceptional: the modern name
of the Biblical Shunem is Silem; on the other hand, Bethel is now known as
Beitin, and Jezreel as Zer‘in. Talmudic tarnégél, rooster, is the Sumerian
dar-lugallu, king of the variegated birds (chickens). Compare J. Hunger,
Babyl. Tieromina (Berlin, 1909) p. 42.
™Wellhausen remarks in the notes on the translation of the Psalms,
in the Polychrome Bible, page 176, line 36: Judaism has turned the heathen
gods into angels, commissioned by JHvH to govern the various nations.
*® Compare, e. g., Genesis, xxxi., II. 13; also xvi., 11. 13; Judges, vi., 11.
® The name Jerubbaal means Baal requites, rewards. The Hebrew verb
rub or rib, to strive, to sue, means originally to retaliate, to try to obtain
redress. It has recently been shown that we have the same verb in the
name of Sennacherib, Assyr. Sin-ahe-ribé, O Moongod give brothers as a
reward! Gideon’s god was Baal-bérith (Judges, viii., 33) 1. e., the Baal of
,Oracular Decision. Also sefr hab-bérith (Exodus, xxiv., 7) means not the
Book of the Covenant, but The Book of (Oracular) Decision(s).
“ Compare Judges, viii, 24; Genesis, xxxvii., 25-28.
360 HAUPT—THE BURNING BUSH [April 23,
Also Balaam was a prophet of JHvuH, while the Israelites, who
were to be cursed by this Edomite seer, were idolaters. In Num-
bers xxiii., 7 we read that Balaam came from Aram, from the great
mountain? in the east, 7. ¢., Mount Sinai in the neighborhood of
Elath, on the northeastern shore of the Red Sea. This Aram is
not Syria, but the Koranic Jramu which we find in the 89™ sura
in connection with the Adites. Jramu (or Aramu) denotes the
region southeast of Elath. Balaam is identical with Lokman the
Wise. Lokmdn is a translation of Balaam.”* Both names mean
Devourer. The name of Balaam’s father is Be‘ér, and Lokman’s
father was called Ba‘tir. Lokman was born at Elath; élath or
él6th means tall trees, including palms, and there is a large grove
of palm-trees near Elath. In Judges, i., 16 Elath is called The
City of Palm-trees.
In the Koran the Midianites of Elath are called achabu-'l-atkati,
the People of the Grove. Aikat is an adaptation of Ailat, the Arabic
name of Elath. Just as Midian is not a tribal name, but the ancient
term for the Sinaitic amphictyony, so the Adites, referred to in the
Koran, are not a tribe, but a religious confederation. Arab. ‘ad
is the collective to ‘ddah, custom, usage, institution, a synonym of
sunnah which may be connected with Sinai; it is originally a desig-
nation of the Worshipers of JHvH, as are also Midian and Jehudah,
the prototypes of the later Congregation (Heb. kahdl and ‘edah).
Hid, the name of the prophet who was sent to the Adites, is but a
shortened form of Jehudah. Shu‘aib, the Arabic name of Jethro,
means small tribe.?*
** The mountains = the great mountain; compare the notes on the trans-
lation of Ezekiel, in the Polychrome Bible, page 157, line 22.
= Similarly Nazareth is a translation of the older name of this Galilean
town, Hinnathon or Hittalon, mispointed Hannathon and Hethlon, which
means Seclusion; see my paper The Ethnology of Galilee in the Transactions
of the Third International Congress for the History of Religions (Oxford,
1908) vol. i., page 303, line 3. The original form of the name Nazareth
may have been Nacdrath with final ¢ as in Zarephath = Sarepta (Assyr.
Caripiu).
Compare Heb. méthé mispar, or méthé mé‘dt, or ha-méat mikkél
hé-ammim (Genesis, xxxiv., 30; Deuteronomy, iv., 27; vii. 7; XXvi., 53
Psalm, cv., 12). For the Adites compare the new Enzyklopedie des Islam,
edited by Houtsma and Schade, page 128.
1909.] AND THE ORIGIN OF JUDAISM. 361
Mount Sinai, the sacred mountain of Midian, must have been a
volcano. When the Edomite ancestors of the Jews came to Mount
Sinai after the exodus from Egypt, there were thunders?* and
lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the
trumpet exceeding loud. . . And Mount Sinai was altogether on a
smoke ... and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a
furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. This passage
(Exodus, xix., 16. 18) describes a volcanic eruption accompanied by
earthquakes and thunderstorms. The voice of the trumpet (or
rather ram’s horn)*® denotes the subterraneous roaring, rumbling,
and thundering accompanying a volcanic eruption or earthquake.
Homer (JI. xxi., 388) uses trumpeting for thundering.2° We use
blare not only of a sound like that of a trumpet, but also of a loud
or bellowing noise. We speak of the blare of trumpets and the
blare of thunder. In Babylonian omen tablets the blare of thunder
is compared to the voices of various animals: rams, asses, horses,
hogs, lions, dogs, rats, chickens and other birds, etc.2* Pliny
(i1., 193) says that earthquakes are preceded or accompanied by a
terrible noise which resembles either a murmuring, or a roaring, or
the shouting of men, or the clangor of arms (praecedit vero comita-
turque terribilis sonus, alias murmuri similis, alias mugitibus aut
clamort humano armorumque fragori). A Winchester physician
said of the recent seismic shocks in Virginia at the beginning of this
month (April, 1909): I felt two earthquake shocks. They were
like the boom of heavy cannon fired in quick succession, and were
followed by a loud roaring and rumbling. The earth trembled, and
my house swayed perceptibly.
In the same way the walls of Jericho, which were excavated a
* Lit. voices; the plural is intensive; compare above, page 360, note 21.
Thunder was regarded as the voice of God.
* See the cuts in the Appendix on the Music of the Ancient Hebrews
in the translation of the Psalms, in the Polychrome Bible, page 222; compare
the translation of Joshua, page 63.
**Compare also the various uses of Lat. fremitus, sonitus, strepitus;
Greek kAayyy, Krbmoc, Bpduoc, etc. See my paper on the Trumpets of Jericho
in the Vienna Oriental Journal, 1909.
*See J. Hunger, Babylonische Tieromina nebst griechisch-rémischen
Parallelen (Berlin, 1909) page 168.
362 HAUPT—THE BURNING BUSH [April 23,
year ago by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft,?® were destroyed by
an earthquake accompanied by shouting and horn-blowing, i. e.,
roaring and rumbling. The idea that the walls of this ancient im-
pregnable fortress fell down owing to the shouts of the Israelites and
the horn-blowing Israelitish priests*® is a later embellishment.
Similarly, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by a tectonic
earthquake. This was discussed more than ten years ago by the
German geologist Blanckenhorn, in his book on the Dead Sea
and the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Berlin, 1908).*°
Also the explanation of the Pillar of Salt was given long ago. At
the southwestern end of the Dead Sea there is the so-called Moun-
tain of Sodom, consisting of crystallized rock-salt. From the face
of it great fragments are occasionally detached by the action of the
rains, and appear as pillars of salt, advanced in front of the general
mass. Such pillars (or pinnacles) have been often noticed by
travelers. Lieutenant W. F. Lynch described one which was about
40 feet high, cylindrical in form, and resting on a kind of oval
**See No. 39 of the Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft
(Berlin, 1909).
* Compare the translation of the sixth chapter of the Book of Joshua
in the Polychrome Bible and the Notes, on page 62. The failing of the
waters of the Jordan, as described in Joshua, iii, 16 (compare the Notes
on page 60) may have been due to a landslip some 16 miles north of Jericho,
near Ed-Damieh (the ancient Adam, or rather Adamah, south of the mouth
of the Jabbok) where the valley of the Jordan contracts to a narrow gorge.
Canon Cheyne states in his Encyclopedia Biblica, col. 2400, that minor
landslides still occur in that region, and a large one might again dam up the
Jordan, and let it run off into the Dead Sea, leaving the bed temporarily dry.
An Arabic historian relates that on Dec. 7, A.D. 1266, in the neighborhood
of Ed-Démieh, a lofty mound, which overlooked the river on the west, fell
into the water and dammed it up for several hours.
Compare Diener, Die Katastrophe von Sodom und Gomorrha tm
Lichte geologischer Forschung in the Mittheilungen der K. K. Geographi-
schen Gesellschaft in Wien, 1897, pp. 1-22; also Cheyne’s Encyclopedia
Biblica, col. 1047. For the fire (Genesis, xix., 24. 28) following the earth-
quake, note Genesis, xiv., 3. 10 (the region was full of slime pits, i. e., bitumen
springs). From the Lord out of heaven (Genesis, xix., 24) is a subsequent
addition; rained does not necessarily mean that the brimstone and fire came
out of heaven; compare Psalm Ixxviii, 27. The Cologne Gazette of April
27, 1909, reported that during the recent earthquake at Lisbon, on April 23,
1909, boiling water, smoke, and sulphureous dust were ejected from several
large fissures.—There are sulphur springs in the region of the Dead Sea.
1909.] AND THE ORIGIN OF JUDAISM. 363
pedestal, some 50 feet above the level of the sea. A picture of it is
given in Lynch’s Narrative of the U. S. Expedition to the River
Jordan and the Dead Sea (Philadelphia, 1850) page 308.91 Canon
Driver, of Christ Church, Oxford, says (in Hastings’s Dic-
tionary of the Bible) : It is probable that some such pillar, conspicu-
ous in antiquity, gave rise to the story of Lot’s wife. The late
Professor Edward Robinson, of Union Theological Seminary,
New York, remarked in his Biblical Researches (vol. ii., page 108)
that during the rainy season such pillars were constantly in the
process of formation and destruction.
The other day my little girl, who is but 12 years old, was read-
ing some of the numerous clippings which denounced my allusion to
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and raised the question
how I could explain the Pillar of Salt.*? She said, How could Lot
see that his wife became a pillar of salt? If he had looked back,
he would have become a pillar of salt. The meaning of the original
text in Genesis, x1x., 26 is undoubtedly that as soon as Lot’s wife
looked back, she became a pillar of salt. Ina Philadelphia paper a
correspondent stated, I had overlooked the comma. There were no
commas in the original text.’ The majority of the readers of the
Bible do not realize that the title-page of the Authorized Version
contains the statement translated out of the original tongues and
with the former translations diligently compared and revised, by His
Majesty's special command.
In Exodus, xxiv., 17 we read: The sight of the glory of Juvu
was like devouring fire** on the top of the mount in the eyes of the
Israelites. According to Exodus, xiii., 21, JHvH was before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire.**
The modification that this pillar of smoke or fire preceded them on
their march in the wilderness is a later embellishment suggested by
** Compare my paper on Jonah’s Whale in the Proceedings of the Amer-
ican Philosophical Society, vol. xlvi., page 162, note 3.
*T alluded to it in a paper on the location of Mount Sinai, which I
read at the annual meeting of the American Oriental Society, New York,
April 16, 1909.
Compare also Deuteronomy, iv., 24. 36; ix., 3; Psalm, xcvii., 3;
Hebrews, xii., 29.
* Compare Genesis, xv., 17.
364 HAUPT—THE BURNING BUSH [April 23,
the custom of carrying at the head of a caravan, in a cresset mounted
upon a long pole, a beacon-fire, the blaze of which served as a
guiding-light at night, while the smoke signaled the direction during
the day. According to the Priestly Code (which was compiled by
Jewish priests during the Babylonian Captivity about 500 B.c.) the
cloud was over the Tabernacle by day, and by night fire beaconed
there.*® But originally the cloud was on the top of Mount Sinai,
and at night it had a fiery aspect.
Sinai means covered with senna shrubs.*® This seems to be the
older name of the Mountain of JHvu. MHoreb, which is equivalent
to Mont Pelé, i.e., Bare Mountain,*" is a later name.*® The top of
the mountain may have been bare after the eruption observed by
the Hebrews after their exodus from Egypt.*® The volcano may
have been dormant for centuries*? when Moses saw the first flame
of fire out of the midst of the bush, 7. e., a clump of senna shrubs.
The famous Arabian geographer and historian Abulfeda (who
died in A. D. 1331) says: Opinions differ with regard to Mount Sinai.
Some say, It is a mountain in the neighborhood of Elath; others,
A mountain in Syria. According to some, sind denotes the stones of
the mountain; according to others, the shrubs thereon.*! Sanda’ is
the Arabic name for senna, and sina means small stones, i. e., the
lapilli of the volcano. In Exodus, xix., 13 the Hebrews are warned
® See Haupt, The Book of Canticles (Chicago, 1902) page 22 = The
American Journal of Semitic Languages, vol. xvili., page 212; compare
Haupt, Biblische Liebeslieder (Leipzig, 1907) page 22.
% Cassia angustifolia. This shrub, which is more than six feet high, is
found on the shore of the Red Sea. The best senna leaves (folia sennae)
come from Arabia.
% Horeb may also be interpreted to mean making bare or Destroyer
(Arabic harib).
In several passages (Exodus, iii, 1; xvii, 6; xxxiii., 6; i. Kings, xix.,
8) Horeb represents a later addition. The name Horeb does not occur
before the 7 century B.C.
° The top of Mount Etna, which is now bare, was wooded in the six-
teenth century.
© Mount Vesuvius seemed to be extinct from 1500 to 1631; it was covered
with trees and shrubs, the cattle browsed within the crater; but on Dec.
16, 1631, there was a terrific eruption which destroyed some 3,000 men.
“The Arabic text (p. 69 of the Paris edition) reads: wa-téru Sinda
*htdlafit fihi, fa-qila: huwa jdbalun bi-qirbi Ailata, fa-qila: sind’u hijaratuhu,
wa-gila: Sajarun fihi. Mount Sinai is called also téru Sinina.
1909.] AND THE ORIGIN OF JUDAISM. 365
against drawing too near to the mountain, inasmuch as any man
or beast might be killed by a volcanic bomb or the lapilli ejected
from the volcano. The universal interpretation of this passage
(which we find also in the New Testament, Hebrews xii., 20)
that men or beasts that disregarded this prohibition were to be
executed by being stoned or shot with an arrow, is grotesque.
No Hebrew ever shot a domestic cow with an arrow.
There is a mountain in the neighborhood of Elath, known as
the Jabal an-Nir, the Mountain of Light, or Jabal al-Barghir, a
modification of barghil, which denotes a region near the water
or between cultivated land and the wilderness. The Arabs say
that the Lord spoke to Moses on that mountain. There is also
a Jabal Harb,™ southeast of Elath, which is 7,218 feet high. It
is situated near the eastern shore of the Red Sea, about lat.
28° N., west of Tabtk, north of Ziba on the Red Sea, on the route
of the pilgrims from Egypt to Mecca. We ought to send an
expedition to Akaba to find out whether these two
mountains are extinct volcanoes and covered with senna
shrubs.** Systematic explorations of this volcanic region of the
cradle of Judaism would no doubt yield most striking results.
I am inclined to think that not only the Edomite ancestors of
the Jews came from that region, but also the Semites who invaded
both Babylonia and Egypt. The aborigines of Egypt must have
been a negroid race,** but Semites must have invaded the valley of
the Nile in the prehistoric period. Some of these Semitic invaders,
“ My attention has been called to the fact that A. H. McNeile, The
Book of Exodus (London, 1908) p. cv. states: Horeb must... be located
.. on the east of the Gulf [of Akaba]. And it is worthy of notice that
in modern maps a Jabal Harb is situated on the east of the Gulf, a little
south of lat. 28°. :
*“We ought to disinter also the ancient capital of Galilee, at the hot
springs (Hammath) south of Tiberias, and the traditional home of Abraham,
Ur of the Chaldees, the present Mughair. I have been advocating excava-
tions at Mughair for more than 25 years. Dr. John P. Peters states in
his work on Nippur (vol. ii., page 300): I have seen no mound which
seemed easier and safer to excavate, or promised richer results than Mughair.
“See my paper The Aryan Ancestry of Jesus, page 9, note *; compare
the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlaindischen Gesellschaft, vol. \xiii., page
250, lines 24-30. See also above, page 356, note 4.
366 HAUPT—THE BURNING BUSH [April 23,
it may be supposed, came over land, across the isthmus of Suez, and
founded the northern kingdom of Egypt in the Delta. Others came
across the Red Sea, near Koseir,** and established the Southern
Kingdom in Upper Egypt. The northern and the southern king-
doms were afterwards united by Menes, about B.c. 3300, just as
David united his southern kingdom with the northern kingdom of
Israel about I000 B. Cc.
The Israelites may have originally lived with their Edomite
brethren on the northeastern shore of the Red Sea, but they must
afterwards have sojourned for some time in Mesopotamia*® before
they settled in Palestine. They may be a branch of the Semites
who had invaded Northern Babylonia and had afterwards gone to
Assyria.*7 The Edomite ancestors of the Jews invaded Palestine
from the south prior to B. c. 1000, but the Israelites must have come
to Palestine from the northeast (probably through Rakkah on the
Euphrates, Palmyra, and Damascus )** prior to B. c. 1400, and settled
first in the northern region of the country east of the Jordan, 1. e.,
Bashan and Gilead.*® If the Israelites sojourned in Mesopotamia,
we can understand the points of contact between the Israelitish law-
book®® in Exodus, xxi., 2—xxii., 17 and the Code of Hammurapi
(B.c. 1958-1916).5* The Decalogue (Exodus, xx., I-17) repre-
*“On the western bank of the Nile, at Nakadah and al-Ballas, about
five days’ journey from Koseir, there are some of the earliest settlements in
Egypt. Compare also the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archeology,
vol. xxxi. (London, 1909) page 210, line 4.
** Probably on the pasture-grounds south of Haran, between the Eu-
phrates and the Chaboras. Compare above, page 358, note 15, and Genesis,
Xi) 28. 130s Mxive 04s LO) 3exvils 43s) oRVAIRY Si) sem), GS exccITC eee
Deuteronomy, xxvi.,5. The Hebrew term for Mesopotamia, Ardm-Nahardaim,
means The Arameans of the Great River, i. e., the Euphrates; see Haupt,
The Book of Nahum (Baltimore, 1907) page 31.
‘In Genesis, x., 11 the Authorized Version renders correctly in the
margin: he went out into Assyria.
oe Rakkah means bank, shore; Palmyra=Tadmor (for Titmur): palmy,
abounding in palms; and Damascus seems to be a contraction of Ddar-maski
well-watered region. See my paper on the Ethnology of Galilee (cited above,
page 360, note 22) and the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlaindischen
Gesellschaft, vol. xli., page 195, line 9; also Orientalistische Literaturzeitung,
vol. x., col. 306; vol: xii, col. 214, note 15,
* Compare Genesis, xxxi., 21. 47; Deuteronomy, i., 4, etc.
® Compare above, page 359, note 19. See next page.
1909.] AND THE ORIGIN OF JUDAISM. 367
sents the quintessence of the old moral and religious precepts,®?
which was probably extracted by the prophets®* in the seventh cen-
tury, after Israel had fallen in B.c. 721, and which was afterwards
still more concentrated by Jesus.**
According to later Judaic tradition, Abraham came from Ur of
the Chaldees, and went afterwards to Egypt (Genesis, xii., 10).
The same source states that Abraham had an Egyptian concubine
(Genesis, xvi., 1). The object of such statements as we find, e. g.,
in Genesis, xliii., 32, is to emphasize the fact that the Egyptians,
among whom the Edomite ancestors of the Jews sojourned for some
time, considered themselves superior to the forefathers of the
Israelites. Genesis, xxvii., 36 (compare xxv., 33) explains how it
happened that the Israelites in the north possessed a higher civili-
zation than their Edomite brethren in the south. The Israelites
were peasants ; the Edomites, on the other hand, semi-nomadic shep-
herds. Sons of Leah means cowboys; Sons of Rachel, shep-
herds.» The statement that Joseph, the father of Ephraim and
Manasseh, was a Son of Rachel, must be viewed in the same light as
the tradition that the Israelites were in Egypt (compare above,
page 359, line 19).
The ancient Egyptians called themselves Worshipers of Horus,
the god of light. This deity may be ultimately identical with the
god of the Sinaitic volcano. Harr is the Arabic term for volcanic
regions. In the Old Testament we find harerim in Jeremiah, xviti.,
6. Nahor, which was originally the name of an Aramaic deity, can
hardly be connected with Horus.*®
5 Compare the Johns Hopkins University Circulars, No. 163 (June, 1903)
page 50; A. H. McNeile, The Book of Exodus (London, 1908) page
xlvii; Ed. Meyer, Geschichte der Altertums, vol. i., part 2 (Stuttgart,
1909) page 450.
Compare Exodus, xxii., I7—xxili., Io.
8 See my paper The Religion of the Hebrew Prophets in the Transactions
of the Third International Congress for the History of Religions (Oxford,
1908) vol. i., p. 270.
* See Matthew, xxii., 40; vii., 12; compare Romans, xiii. 9.
°° Heb. leah = cow, rachel=ewe. See my paper on Leah and Rachel in
the Zeitschrift fiir die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, Vol. xxxix. (Giessen,
1909), pp. 281-286.
° For Horus in Old Testament names see Cheyne’s Encyclopedia
Biblica, col. 3304, § 81.
PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. 193 Y, PRINTED JANUARY 5, IQIO.
368 HAUPT—THE BURNING BUSH [April 23,
Every statement with regard to prehistoric periods is, of course,
more or less conjectural. But I adhere to the principle that the
probably right is preferable to the undoubtedly wrong. The possi-
bility cannot be denied. It is even possible that the Sumerians are
Egyptian emigrants of the pre-Semitic population of Egypt, who
left their native land after the double Semitic invasion across the
isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea near Koseir. The Sumerians
may have come from Egypt to Southern Babylonia through the
Persian Gulf. This would explain the legend of Oannes*’ and
several remarkable points of contact between Egyptian culture and
Babylonian civilization. There is even a racial resemblance between
the Sumerian heads of Telloh and the head of the famous statue of
the Egyptian scribe in the Louvre or the head of the well-known
wooden statue known as the sheikh al-balad.°**
We have, of course, no mathematical evidence for the prehistoric
periods of Arabia, Egypt, and Babylonia. But so much is certain:
Jewish monotheism is derived from Egypt,®® and the sacred moun-
tain of the Edomite ancestors of the Jews was a volcano near the
ancient Edomitic port of Elath at the northeastern end of the Red
Sea. The Burning Bush on the Mountain of God as well as the
miraculous passage of the Hebrews through the Red Sea® are not
legendary, but historical.
7 See Zimmern’s remarks in E. Schrader, Die Ketlinschriften und
das Alte Testament (Berlin, 1903) page 535.
See the plates in Ed. Meyer, Sumericr und Semiten (Berlin, 1906)
and Aegypten zur Zeit der Pyramidenerbauer (Leipzig, 1908).
°° We can trace the beginning of the solar monotheism of ancient Egyptian
theology to the Fifth Dynasty (2680-2540 B.c.). Horus was gradually
superseded by Ra, just as JHVH was substituted for Esau. Compare above,
page 357, note 6.
° The Edomite ancestors of the Jews may have crossed the Red Sea at the
small peninsula, 75 miles (120 kilometers) south of the northern end of the
modern Suez Canal, between the larger and the smaller basins of the Bitter
Lakes which formed at that time the northern end of the Red Sea. Mayjor-
General Tulloch observed that under a strong east wind the waters of
Lake Menzalah, at the northern end of the Suez Canal receded for a distance
of several miles. In the same way the water northeast of this peninsula may
have been driven by a strong east wind (Exodus, xiv., 21) into the larger
basin of the Bitter Lakes, while the water in the shallow lower basin receded
at low tide. Although the Bitter Lakes and the Red Sea are now connected
1909.] AND THE ORIGIN OF JUDAISM. 369
I believe that the Deliverer was a historical person. But we
need not believe that Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and
seventy of the elders of Israel saw God (Exodus, xxiv., 10). The
author of the Fourth Gospel says (John, i1., 18): No man hath seen
God at any time. Deuteronomy, iv., 12, states: The Lord spake
unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of the
words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. But Jesus told
the Jews according to St. John, v., 37: Ye have neither heard His
voice at any time, nor seen His shape.
only by the*modern Suez Canal, the tide extends to the southern end of
the Bitter Lakes. The present northern end of the Gulf of Suez is prac-
tically dry at low tide. Pi-hahiroth (Exodus, xiv., 2) should be read
Pi-haherith, 1. e., the mouth (fz) of the canal (ha-hérith = Assyr. heritu)
connecting Lake Timsah (north of the Bitter Lakes) with the Nile. See
my papers on the crossing of the Red Sea and the palm-grove on the Red
Sea in Peiser’s Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, vol. xii. (Leipzig, 1909)
columns 245 and 250. Further details concerning the statements made in
the present paper may be found zbid., in my articles on the birth-place of
David and Christ; the ancestors of the Jews; MHobab,. father-in-law; the
name JHVH (cols. 65, 162, 164, 211) and especially in my paper on Midian
and Sinai, pp. 506-530 of vol. Ixiii. (Leipzig, 1909) of the Zeitschrift der
Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft.
THE VERTEBRATES (OF fin CAYUGA AIG
BASEN. N.Y:
(From the Department of Neurology and Vertebrate Zodlogy,
Cornell University.)
With Four Mapes.
By HUGH D. REED anp ALBERT H. WRIGHT.
(Read October 1, 1909.)
INTRODUCTION.
This paper is based mainly upon the records made by members
of this department since the opening of the university in 1868; our
personal observations have extended over the last twelve years.
For valuable notes, helpful criticism and material assistance we are
indebted to Professors B. G. Wilder, T. L. Hankinson and E. H.
Eaton and to Messrs. G. S. Miller, Jr, L.A. Puertes; A: A. Allen
G. C. Embody and John Vann. Many others have aided in various
ways and acknowledgments are made in the proper places.
The paper includes all the vertebrates known by us to occur in
this basin. Each record is based upon specimens taken within our
limits. In cases of doubt as to identification the specimens have
been submitted to specialists in the group.
The only previous publications which deal specifically with the
vertebrates of this region are: “ Fishes of Cayuga Lake,” by B. G.
Wilder, published in the Weekly Ithacan for June 25, 1875, “ Notes
on the Fishes of Cayuga Lake Basin,” by Seth E. Meek, published
in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. IV., 1899,
and “ The Lake and Brook Lampreys of New York, Especially those
of Seneca and Cayuga Lakes,” by S. H. Gage, in the “ Wilder Quar-
ter-Century Book,” 1893. There are numerous other publications
which contain notes upon the vertebrates of this basin, particularly
the birds and reptiles, to which reference will be made elsewhere.
370
PLATE XVII
No. 193
PROCEEDINGS Am. PHILOS. Soc. VOL. XLVIII.
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PROCEEDINGS Am. PHILOoS. Soc. VoL. XLVII!. No. 193
Relief Map of the Ithaca Quadrangle.
PROCEEDINGS Am. PHILOS. Soc. VoL. XLVIII. No. 193 PLATE XIX
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1909.] PAE CAYUGA LAICE BASIN, 7N: (Ye 371
The Maps.—The map of the Ithaca region (Pl. XVII) is from
Dudley’s “The Cayuga Flora.” It shows this region in more detail
than the general map. A small portion of the southern end of the
basin is shown in a photograph (Pl. XVIII) of a relief map made
by William Stranahan from the U.S. Geological Survey sheets. It
gives a very accurate idea of the gorges and general surface carving
in the southern portion of the basin. It is through the courtesy of
Mr. Stranahan and the authorities of the Cornell University Library
that we are able to reproduce it here. Plate XIX represents a cross-
section of the finger-lake region, showing the comparative depths and
altitudes of lake levels and the altitude of intervening land. The
lakes are represented in section at their deepest points, the land as
indicated by the lines A, B, C on the figure in the lower left-hand
corner of the plate. The distance between the lakes is not propor-
tional to the elevation. Plate XX is a map of the lake region of
central New York based primarily upon the map published by Pro-
fessor Dudley in his flora of the basin. It has been modified in
many particulars in order to adapt it to the needs of the present
paper. The modifications are based largely upon the maps of the
U. S. Geological Survey and in a minor degree upon personal obser-
vations. The number accompanying the name of a town or hill
indicates its altitude above sea level. The altitudes are taken from
bench marks so far as they are given. In other cases the altitude
given is that of the contour which passes through the center of a
town or indicates the top of a hill.
The Lake Basin.—Cayuga is the largest of a series of approxi-
mately parallel lakes in central New York which extend in a north
and south direction. They are long and narrow, virtually deep
river valleys, and consequently have been very appropriately des-
ignated the “ Finger Lakes.” The basin as delimited in this paper
(Pl. XX) comprises about 1,600 square miles. Throughout the
greater part of this area only the actual catchment basin has been
included, but, in the northern portion, the limits as we have set them
are, to a certain degree, arbitrary. It includes a portion of the
Clyde and Seneca rivers and the large Montezuma marshes which
cover an area of 45 square miles.
The greatest length of the basin is about 65 miles, extending
372 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
from the source of Butler Creek southward to the source of the
Cayuga inlet near North Spencer. The width gradually increases
from 12 miles at Montezuma to Taughannock Falls, where it sud-
denly broadens to about 30 miles because of a finger-like extension
along the course of Fall Creek.
The length of the lake is usually estimated at thirty-eight miles, its breadth
from one and a half to three miles. In appearance, therefore, it resembles
a great river; indeed it is said to occupy a part of a preglacial river channel
of which the Neguaena* valley was the continuation. The height of the lake
above mean tide is 383° feet, the greatest depth found by numerous soundings
of the Cornell University Engineering Department was 435 feet at a point
directly off Kidder’s Ferry. In the section between Myers Point and Sheldrake
Point it is in many places over 400 feet deep. On account of its depth its
waters are comparatively cold far into the summer, and rarely become so
chilled in winter as to admit of the formation of ice over the deeper sections.
From one half to two thirds of the middle section usually remains open, but
in the winter of 1884-5 the lake was frozen over before the middle of Feb-
ruary and the ice did not break up till the first week in April. There is a
tradition that this occurs about once in twenty years (Dudley)?
Data collected from various sources show that this tradition has
some foundation in fact. Since the beginning of white settlements
in this basin, soon after the Revolutionary War, the lake has frozen
over seven times and the intervals have been, with one exception,
from eighteen to twenty years. During the winter of 1836, ice cov-
ered the lake throughout its extent but was apparently very thin,
for in an article under the caption “ Cayuga’ written in 1846 the
writer observed that this condition lasted for a day or two only.
Prior to 1836, the lake had been frozen twice but nothing is known
concerning the dates further than that the intervals were about
twenty years—probably about 1816 and 1796. During March and
April, 1856, ice ten inches thick closed the entire lake. At many
points teams were driven across. The Ithaca Weekly Journal of
March 12, 1856, contains the following note:
Cayuga Lake is frozen over completely from one extreme to the other.
The like has not been known for over twenty years (1836) :
* Now called the Inlet valley.
* The average level as given by the U. S. Geological Survey is 381 feet.
* Dudley, William R., “ The Cayuga Flora, Part I.: A Catalogue of the
Phzenogamia Growing without Cultivation in the Cayuga Lake Basin,” Bul-
letin of the Cornell University (Science), Vol. II., 1886, Andrus and Church.
ithaca Nee
*Ithaca Daily Chronicle, Dec. 22, 1846, Vol. I., no. 140.
1909. ] THE CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, N. Y. 373
During the last half of February and the first of March, 1875, ice
thirteen inches thick covered the entire lake. On February 15,
1884, the lake again froze over completely and remained so until
April 4. Since this date Cayuga has frozen from end to end but
once and then during February, 1904. In certain places the ice was
22 inches thick. The shallow water at either end of the lake is
frozen over usually by the middle of December and remains in
this condition until the middle of March or the first of April.
Dudley further observes:
The temperature of the lake unquestionably influences the development
of vegetation in its immediate vicinity. Plants on its shores are usually a
week later in the spring than in the neighboring ravines and the warm valley
about Ithaca, and a week earlier than on the distant hills; and during the
first half of November, the blue flowers of Aster levis and the white plumes
of Aster sagittifolius still remain in considerable abundance, while they have
long ago matured and faded near Ithaca.
Proceeding southward from the gently sloping shores near Cayuga Bridge
the banks become gradually bolder, until in the vicinity of Levanna the first
cliffs appear on the eastern shore. Between Willets and Kings Ferry these
reach their culmination in the “ High Cliffs”; but stretches of lofty, pre-
cipitous, or more or less broken declivities occur on both shores until within
a few miles of the southern extremity. At intervals, especially near the mouth
of some stream, are low, half-sandy points which yield many rare plants.
Near Ithaca, and about two miles from the lake, the great valley forks, the
main portion continuing to the right of South Hill, a preglacial valley of
erosion extending southwardly to Waverly in the Susquehanna Valley. The
other portion on the left of South Hill is similar to the first and forms the
present Six Mile Creek and White Church Valleys, and opens into the Sus-
quehanna at Owego. These deep valleys penetrate and cut through the great
dividing ridge between the St. Lawrence or Great Lake hydrographic system
to which our streams and smaller lakes are tributary, and the Susquehanna
system, and are parallel to similar valleys east and west of us. The head-
waters of the streams occupying them, i. e., the summits between the two
systems are usually very near the crossing of the dividing ridge. (Dudley.)
Hydrographic Areas.—A glance at a hydrographic map of the
state will reveal the existence of seven river systems, only two of
which lie within the province of this paper, namely: the Oswego, of
which the Finger Lakes are a part, and the Susquehanna. The
latter has in New York a catchment area of 6,267 square miles and
comes into very close relation with the Oswego system through
the numerous inlets of the Finger Lakes where the origins of many
374 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
of the streams of each system are very close, in a few instances
with actual water connection.
The close relation existing between the Finger Lakes and the
Susquehanna system is most marked in the tributaries of Cayuga
Lake. Sixmile and Wilseyville creeks arise about three miles apart
with a considerable elevation intervening, but within the upper three
miles of their respective courses, they approach within three fifths
of a mile of each other at precisely the same level with no high
land between. Buttermilk creek arises one fourth of a mile from
Michigan creek and three tenths of a mile from Danby Creek, all
at an elevation of 1,100 feet. Taughannock Creek arises in the
same marsh with a tributary of Cayuta Lake at an elevation of
1,300 feet. The inlet of Cayuga Lake arises one and one half
miles from Spencer Creek at the same elevation and in the same
stretch of marshy area. The west branch of the Inlet at its source
is one fifth of a mile from Cantor creek in Pony Hollow. Sixmile
Creek and the west branch of the Owego Creek rise in the same
marsh at an altitude of 1,280 feet. The west branch of the Owego
Creek also comes into close relation with Fall Creek through the
tributaries of Dryden Lake.
These examples serve to show not only the poSsibility of recent
connections but in the case of several streams of the two systems
an actual connection at the present time. The sources of Sixmile
and Wilseyville creeks are so close that they are connected for lim-
ited periods during flood times. Professor R. S. Tarr has expressed
to us the belief that before the region was settled and the dense
virgin forests cleared away, many of the streams of the Cayuga and
Susquehanna systems, with present close relations, were actually
connected in the heavily wooded swamps.
The outlet of the Finger Lakes is the Seneca River, which con-
stitutes the principal component of the Oswego system. The stream
itself is about fifty miles long and according to the U. S. Geological
Survey has a drop of only twenty feet which accounts for its slug-
gish, meandering and marshy course. It receives the drainage of a
little more than three thousand square miles of territory.
1909. ] THE WAVUGA LAKE BASIN, Nee 375
The following is a table of the elevations, and area of water and
of catchment basins of the Finger Lakes taken from Rafter :°
Elevation in Area of Water Area of Catchment
Lake, Feet. in Square Miles. Basin in Square Miles.
Canandaigua, so4.5s: 686 18.6 175
Kee uilka ah eisvevsleavanieiic esas 720 20.3 187
Sem e Cane retecto veatens oisie 444 66.0 707
Gay gay teat mac resets 381 66.8 1593
Owwascomineanaecaseen 710 12.4 208
Skaneateles) <24.05 2). 867 12.8 73
OEISCO! ailashe cress ieeveitee 784 3.0 34.
Thus it appears that Cayuga has a slightly greater water area,®
a decidedly greater catchment basin and a lower level (Pl. XIX)
than any of the other Finger Lakes. The catchment basin is larger
than the combined basins of the other six lakes. The usual fluctua-
tion between high and low water in Cayuga is not great. Upon
this point Rafter observes (p. 112):
According to figures given in the Eleventh Annual Report of the State
Board of Health of New York it appears that the maximum fluctuation of
Cayuga Lake for a long series of years has been 7.56 feet, although this large
fluctuation may be possibly partly due to work done by the state in cutting
out the channel of the Seneca River for the purpose of draining the Mon-
tezuma marsh. Ordinarily, the fluctuation of Cayuga Lake does not exceed
between 2 and 3 feet. From March 4, 1887, to December 2 of that year, the
lake fell 2.93 feet. By way of illustrating how these great natural reservoirs
tend to prevent floods, it may be mentioned that the configuration of Cayuga
outlet with relation to Clyde River is such that frequently, when there are
heavy rainfalls in the catchment area of the Clyde River, Cayuga Lake being
at the same time at a low level, the entire flood flow of Clyde River is dis-
charged into Cayuga Lake without affecting Seneca River below the mouth
of the Clyde River at all. It is undoubtedly due to this fact that fall floods
on Oswego River are almost entirely unknown.
The evaporation of the Oswego River catchment area is exceedingly
large—about 28 inches—whence it results that the run-off from a mean annual
rainfall of from 36 to 37 inches does not exceed about 9 or Io inches.
During the winter of 1908-9 the lake level fell 1.25 feet below the
mean level (383 feet), the lowest it had been for twenty years.
*Rafter, George W., “ Hydrology of the State of New York,” Bull. 85
of the New York State Museum, 1905, p. 216.
*Much greater if the forty-five square miles of the Montezuma marshes
are included.
376 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
The principal tributaries of Cayuga Lake are: Cayuga Inlet, Six-
mile Creek, Cascadilla Creek, with a combined catchment area of 173
square miles, Salmon Creek, with a catchment area of 90 square
miles, and Taughannock Creek, with a catchment area of 60 square
miles. In their upper courses all these streams follow broad and
gently sloping preglacial valleys without waterfalls. All, however,
except the inlet, have cut a mile or more of post-glacial channel
just before entering the lake valley. Here the channels are narrow
and deep and the descent sudden, forming the gorges and waterfalls
so characteristic of the tributaries of Seneca and Cayuga lakes.
The fall of these streams in the last two miles (more or less) is be-
tween four and five hundred feet. What is said here of the princi-
pal tributaries applies to most of the streams entering Cayuga lake.
In this connection Professor Dudley wrote:
There remains but one other feature to mention in this general review.
Nothing in the physical aspect of this region strikes the stranger as more
characteristic than the so-called gorges or ravines found in the first great
bench above the lake and valleys, wherever a creek or even a brook descends
to the lower level. The true gorges are probably, without exception, of recent
or post-glacial origin; the walls are frequently of perpendicular or overhang-
ing rock from fifty to two hundred feet or even much higher, as in Taughan-
nock and Enfield ravines. Within these great chasms are usually falls or
cascades, some of them exceedingly beautiful and of considerable height.
The Life Zones—The Cayuga Lake basin is, in the main, typi-
cally Transitional, although in certain localities there is a trace of
the Upper Austral and Canadian. All of the nine species of mam-
mals, which, Miller’ observes, “ will serve to identify any part of the
Transition zone in New York,” are found within the basin. These
forms are:
Southeastern red squirrel, Sciurus hudsonicus loquax.
Southern flying squirrel, Sciuropterus volans volans.
Northern pine mouse, Microtus pinetorum scalopsoides.
Naked-tailed mole, Scalops aquaticus.
Hairy-tailed mole, Parascalops brewer.
Northeastern chipmunk, Tamas striatus lysteri.
Bonaparte’s weasel, Putorius cicognam.
Big brown bat, Vespertilo fuscus.
7 Miller, Gerrit S., Jr., “ Preliminary List of New York Mammals,” Bull.
of the New York State Museum, Vol. VI., No. 29, 1890.
1909.] THE CAYUGA LAKE, BASIN, N.Y. 377
Of the eastern birds which find their northern breeding limit
in the Transition zone, nineteen out of the twenty-two mentioned
by Miller breed in this basin.
Bob-white,
Ruffed grouse,
Mourning dove,
Yellow-billed cuckoo,
Whip-poor-will,
Least flycatcher,
Baltimore oriole,
Towhee,
Grasshopper sparrow,
Indigo bunting,
Rough-winged swallow,
Northern loggerhead shrike,
Yellow warbler,
Parula warbler,
Long-billed marsh wren,
Catbird,
Brown thrasher,
Wood thrush,
Blue bird,
They are:
Colinus virginianus.
Bonasa umbellus umbellus.
Zenaidura macroura carolinensis.
Coccysus americanus.
Antrostomus vociferus.
Empidonax mimmus.
Icterus galbula.
Pipilo erythrophthalmus.
Ammodramus savannarum aus-
tralis.
Passerina cyanea.
Stelgidopteryx serripennis.
Lanius ludovicianus migrans.
Dendroica estiva.
Compsothlypis americana usnee,
Telmatodytes palustris.
Dumetella carolinensis.
Toxostoma rufum.
Hylocichla mustelina.
Stalia sialis.
Of the ten eastern birds which find the southern limit of their
breeding range in the Transition zone of New York, six breed in
this basin:
Pied-billed grebe,
Purple finch,
Nashville warbler,
Chestnut-sided warbler,
Chickadee,
Veery,
Tachybaptus podiceps.
Carpodacus purpureus.
Vermivora rubricapilla.
Dendroica pensylvamca.
Penthestes atricapillus.
Hylocichla fuscescens.
In the higher hills and in the upper parts of the gorges at the
south end of the basin there is an unmistakable tinge of the Cana-
PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC,, XLVIII. 193 Z, PRINTED JANUARY 6, IgIo.
378 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
dian zone. In these localities are found five of the ten Canadian
mammals characteristic of this zone in New York. They are:
Canadian white-footed mouse, Peromycus maniculatus gracilis.
Common red-backed mouse, Evotomys gapperi gapperi.
Woodland jumping-mouse, Nape@ozapus insignis.
Northeastern mink, Putorius vison vison.
Smoky shrew, Sorex fumeus.
Of the sixteen more characteristic Canadian birds breeding in
New York, the Blackburnian and Magnolia warblers breed upon
these hills. Associated with this assemblage of Canadian forms are
others which, while not characteristically Canadian, may be con-
sidered northern forms. Such are:
Slate-colored junco, Junco hyemalts.
Nashville warbler, Vermivora rubricapilla.
Black-throated blue warbler, Dendroica cerulescens.
Black-throated green warbler, Dendroica virens.
Water-thrush, Seturus noveboracensis.
Canadian warbler, Wilsoma canadensis.
Winter wren, Nannus hiemalis.
Hermit thrush, Hylocichla guttata pallasiu.
In about the same degree in which a trace of the Canadian zone
is found in the higher portions of the basin there is a trace of the
Upper Austral in the lowlands about the head and outlet of the
lake. In these places are found such of the characteristic birds of
the Upper Austral zone as breed in New York, viz.,
Louisiana water-thrush, Seiurus motacilla.
Yellow-breasted chat, Icteria virens. ;
Hooded warbler, Wilsonia citrina.
Carolina wren, Thryothorus ludovicianus.
Tufted titmouse, Beolophus bicolor (one specimen).
In the same localities with the above are found species which
reach their northern breeding limit in the Transition zone in New
York having.a wider breeding range to the southward, viz.:
Barn owl, Aluco pratincola.
1909.] THECCAYUGA LAKE BASIN, Noy: 379
Red-bellied woodpecker, Centurus carolinus.
Rough-winged swallow, Stelgidopteryx serripennis.
Orchard oriole, Icterus spurius.
A few Lower Austral forms, as the glossy ibis, the egret and
the turkey vulture, have been taken in Montezuma marshes during
the summer season. In the lowlands about the head of the lake,
particularly the Renwick marshes, there remain throughout the
winter a number of transients and summer residents. They are:
Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon.
Flicker, Colaptes auritus luteus.
Meadow lark, Sturnella magna.
Song sparrow, Melospiza melodia.
Swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana.
Winter wren, Nannus hiemalis.
Long-billed marsh wren, Telmatodytes palustris.
Robin, Planesticus migratoria.
The localities where the more southern birds are found breeding
and where a few summer residents pass the winter are the alluvial
flood plains which constitute the
According to Dudley a few very rare plants belong to these levels,
ce
sheltered spots”? of the basin.
among them the more southern species.
Meteorology.—The basins of Canandaigua, Keuka, Seneca and
Cayuga lakes constitute a meteorological subdivision of the state
termed the Central Lake region. On the north this subdivision
meets the Ontario region. Lakes Owasco and Skaneateles are con-
sidered as within the meteorological subdivision known as the East-
ern Plateau which lies to the east and southeast of the central lakes.
The Seneca lake basin, except for a small portion of its northern
extremity, lies wholly within the Central Lake region while that of
Cayuga is not only continuous with the Ontario region in its north-
ern extremity but its southeastern portion projects for a considerable
distance into the Eastern Plateau.
The normal annual temperature of the Central Lake region dif-
fers only slightly from that of the Ontario and to the extent of
about three degrees only from the Eastern Plateau. The normal
temperature for each of the three regions computed from the nor-
380 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
mal annual temperatures for eleven years, 1891-1901, is: Ontario
47.5°, Central Lakes 48.3°, Eastern Plateau 45.9°. Thus it appears
that the Central Lake region is .8° warmer than the Ontario and
2.4° warmer than the Eastern Plateau.
The extent to which the lake modifies the climate of the basin,
if any, is still to be determined. Dr. W. D. Wilson, of Geneva, in
comparing the influence of the lakes upon Ithaca and Geneva,’ states
that the northerly winds in winter are warmed by their passage up
the lake valley, which they follow more or less closely, and cause the
temperature in the vicinity of Ithaca during this season to stand’
3.3 degrees higher than it otherwise would. According to E. C.
Turner the observations made at Ithaca prior to 1897 substantiate
Dr. Wilson’s views and moreover indicate that they apply to the
whole of the central lake region.
The normal monthly temperature for Ithaca compiled from data
collected from 1875 to 1905 follows:
JESTBEDAY Soon bocce ode 24.1 nil ys Sees yoterperes: ona eeetevers 70.6
eDitiaryi .ccteiniice ses. 25.1 PANTSUITS aneeisere ciate ences 68.2
Micirchiy-erarectcretacraa 31.9 Septembetaysnneceer os 60.6
ANP Ella tols 2 a haere ors es 44.2 OctobereGas Geniscne ass 49.5
IME RP ato peaene dined oe eo C 57.0 INovembercencsceenee 37.6
ITO Uae rate, tetera ery 66.2 Decembenere-- ese 28.4
The sum of daily heat units above 32 degrees is 14,317, com-
piled from a table of normal daily temperature for 33 years and
the average normal daily temperature of the six hottest weeks
is 70.4 degrees. According to Turner, from 1879 to 1893 the
average date of the latest freezing temperature was May 6, the
extremes being April 9 and May 29. The average date of the first
freezing temperature in the fall was October 10, the earliest being
September 26, while in one year 32 degrees was not reached until
October 31. A table of the latest spring and earliest fall killing
frosts from 1900 to 1907 at three stations in the basin follows:
Ithaca. Romulus. Auburn.
1900. May 7-Oct. 20 May 10-Oct. 20 May 6-Oct. 16
rgo1. April 12-Oct. 28 Oct. 18 April 12-Oct. 6
8See Turner, E. T., Eighth Annual Report of the New York Weather
Bureau, Assembly Documents, Vol. 25, 1897, p. 440.
1909.]
1902.
1903.
1904.
1905.
1900.
1907.
Pie "CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, IN. ax:
Ithaca.
May
May
May
May
May
May
1o-Oct.
2—Oct.
12-Oct.
2-Oct.
21—Oct.
12-Oct.
Romulus,
May 15-Oct. 15
May 2-Oct. 25
April 22-Sept. 22
May 3-Oct. 26
May 21-Oct. 8
May 21-Oct. 9
Auburn.
May 14-Oct. 10
May 2-Oct. 24
April 22-Sept. 22
May 2-Oct. 23
May 21-Oct. 8
May 21-Oct. 9
The average precipitation for the Central Lake region is slightly
less than that for either the Great Lake or Eastern Plateau.
The
mean annual precipitation for these regions compiled from precipi-
tation data for the years 1891 to 1902 is: Great Lakes 35.65 inches,
Eastern Plateau 40.8 inches, Central Lakes 34.46 inches.
The nor-
mal monthly precipitation at Ithaca compiled from the last twenty-
nine years follows:
January
February
March
ec
ee)
a\(w) 9) |b),e1 0 50\(e) 0) oie ve) |e|\e)6
2.16 in UJitstliygeeevees
1.87 in August...
2.44 in September
2.29 in October
3.43 in November
3.88 in December
ale," e! ‘e)(e! ser #1 6 e114) :0
Waa wee 27 cyte
3.24 in.
TA eae 2.83 in.
3.17 in.
From 1900 to 1907 there have been from 150 to 185 rainy days
each year.
For the same period the annual snowfall (unmelted)
has varied from 46.4 to 75.8 inches, the average being 63.6. One of
the striking features of the region about Ithaca is the small per-
centage of clear days, as the following table will show:
Cloudy
LOOOR eis aaa Ace 174
LOOM AR testes ne es I7I
1007) # Rasiclrict Cite 149
TOOSM ctrtehstseo cies: 195
TOOA He ceteris «ccs 180
TOO Her ae cdetvay aes erats 148
LOOOM mete seis cies 164.
OOP ver ies nee ees 163
Partly Cloudy.
109
126
I51
98
II5
126
Q2
140
Percentage of
Clear. Clear Days.
82 22.4
68 18.6
65 17.8
72 19.7
71 19.4
QI 24.9
109 20.8
62 16.9
Based upon average hours of sunshine from 1900 to 1903 R. G.
Allen derived 49 per cent. as an annual mean of sunshine, or a
monthly mean of 189 hours of sunshine.
The average of mean relative humidities at Ithaca from 1900 to
382 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
1907 is 77 per cent., based upon readings taken at 8 A.M. The
range for these years being from 73 to 80 per cent.
The total movement of wind in miles varies from 62,556 to 79,-
172. The maximum velocity ranges from 36 to 54 miles per hour
in the period from November to March. The prevailing direction
of the wind for the past eight years has been northwest. Besides
the general winds there are local currents or night winds particularly
in the southern portion of the basin. Concerning these Dr. W. M.
Wilson® writes:
The night wind commonly sets in two or three hours after sunset, first
as a light breeze, but gradually increasing in strength until a velocity of about
eight miles per hour is reached. This current has its origin on the hillsides
at the southern end of the lake and flows northward down the channels of
the two principal streams which form the inlet, converging into the main
depression at the head of the lake. The flow of the current as it moves
northward over the level surface of the lake is augmented by the cool cur-
rents which join the main stream through the numerous gorges and water
courses entering the valley from either side. Along the western shore at
the southern end of the lake, where the densely: wooded slopes cool the air
near the surface, the flow of the cool breeze down the water courses towards
the lake often continues throughout the day. The night breeze is usually
stronger, but the day breeze as it comes from the depths of the woods is
delightfully refreshing.
The meteorological conditions of the Cayuga basin and more
particularly those about Ithaca are thus commented upon by Gar-
FIOte st”
In spring, summer and autumn precipitation is preceded twelve to forty-
eight hours by southeast winds and falling barometer, and the barometer gen-
erally falls to 29.90, or below, in spring and summer, and to 29.95, or below,
in autumn before precipitation begins. In winter southerly winds precede pre-
cipitation, but the winds shift more quickly and the signs of precipitation are
not so well defined as in other seasons; precipitation begins in this season
with a falling barometer and when the barometer has fallen to 30 or below.
On account of the position of this station on the hillside and above the lake,
diurnal winds are noticeable, especially during the warm months. When not
influenced by passing storms these winds come as a gentle east to southeast
breeze by night and by day a northwest wind having a velocity of two. or
three times greater than the day breeze. When, instead of shifting to the
*Wilson, W. M., “New York Section of the Climatical Service of the
Weather Bureau in codperation with Cornell University,’ August, 1906, p. 59.
*® Garriott, Edward B., “ Weather Folk-lore and Local Weather Signs,”
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bull. 294 of the Weather Bureau, p. 93.
1909.] Tie CAYUGA, LAKE BASIN, (Ni Ye 383
northwest in the early morning, the wind continues from the southeast and
begins to increase in force, the approach of a storm is indicated. While rain
begins most frequently with falling barometer, the heaviest rainfall often
comes, especially in the warmer months, after the turn of the barometer from
falling to rising.
Richard’s registering hygrometer shows that in spring and summer the
humidity sometimes decreases before rain, but rapidly increases after rain
begins; in spring rain begins with relative humidity from 50 to 98 per cent.,
and in summer it may be as low as 50 per cent. one hour before rain begins.
In autumn the effect of day and night seems greater than the influence of
passing storms, and rain will begin with relative humidity as low as 50 per
cent. one hour before rain. In winter there is usually an increase in humidity
from one half to four hours before rain, and dry snow will begin with relative
humidity as low as 40 per cent.
Cirrus clouds are reliable indications of precipitation in all seasons, but
are liable to be obscured by lower clouds of local formation in the colder
portion of the year. These clouds appear moving from the west in the
spring and winter, from the northwest in summer, and from the southwest
in autumn, twenty-four to thirty-six hours before precipitation begins. Special
characteristics of clouds have not been noted except in connection with
cirrus clouds.
Frost is likely to damage fruit or other crops in May and September.
Heavy frost is generally preceded by high barometer, low temperature and
humidity, very high wind and clear weather.
The Fishes of the Basin —The fish fauna of the basin comprises
65 species distributed among 21 families, as follows:
Petromyzonide ......... 2 species. Umbride ............... I species.
Acipenseridze. js. asna-ce I fs EES OCIG G2 sor. srshayetetere cashes 2 os
Lepisostetdze. 2:0) 6. dsc ss I # Peeciliiidces ae sneha I cH
PNT TT a Verepere cies Sete ores exe I “ Gasterosterdceyy aemae sri: I y
Sileret des Wetec ei a woes 5 5 Percopsidae ass acme. I ‘i
CGatostomida eee aee: 4 os Athenmnidas Serie se cee I 6
Cyprinidae co s%.5s sos 19 i CGentranchidceme eerie: 7 .
Aietiillitdceg esos cere I % Rencidzaaanasae meee 7 s
Glupeidzewerieo ea sncises I te SemmmiGks ssooocoasoocer I i
Salmomidcewe Mian cute si. aes 5 *s Gatti deeiesnciseinee aioe teens Be hee
Gaclidzaune sentry eee I species.
As yet too little is known of the fish fauna of the finger lakes to
draw any definite conclusions concerning the general distribution of
species or the relation of these faunas to others. Lake Cayuga and
Seneca River have water connection with Lake Erie and the Hudson
River through the Erie Canal; with Lake Ontario both through river
and canal (Oswego) ; with the Susquehanna system through several
384 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
of the southern tributaries at certain periods of the year. It is pos-
sible, therefore, that these lakes may receive species from all three
sources. Of the 65 species found in the basin 19 are common to the
Ontario and Susquehanna basins although frequently varying in
abundance. A table follows:
Susquehanna. Cayuga. Ontario,
Exoglossum maxillingua, very common, common, uncommon.
Semotilus bullaris, very common, rare, uncommon.
Erimyzon sucetta oplongus, very common, uncommon, uncommon.
Esox reticulatus, common, common, rare.
Catostomus nigricans, very common, rare, common.
Hybopsis kentuckiensis, common, rare, common.
Chrosomus erythrogaster, common, Tare; uncommon.
Percina caprodes zebra, | common, rare, common.
Lota maculosa, rare, uncommon, common.
Several of the basses are common to all three basins but the in-
troduction of these species from one place to another renders them
of no comparative value.
Twenty-one species are common to the Cayuga and Ontario
basins. Two species, Cottus gracilis and Notropis procne, are com-
mon to the Cayuga and Susquehanna basins. There are in the Cay-
uga basin four species which do not occur in either the Ontario or
Susquehanna. One of these.is the smelt, Argyrosomus osmeri-
formis, confined to the interior lakes of New York. The others,
Notropis umbratilis, Notropis anogenus and Lepomis cyanellus, are
most common in the northern portion of the basin and doubtless
found their way hither through the Erie Canal from Lake Erie.
It appears that the fish fauna of the Cayuga basin bears the
stamp of Lake Ontario with just a trace of the Susquehanna and
Erie basins. There is a possibility that species which seem to have
found their way here from the Erie and Susquehanna basins were
introduced along with game fishes or from bait pails. Observations
made in Monroe Co., New York, by A. H. Wright™ indicate that
fishes find their way eastward through the Erie Canal.
Amphibia.—One of the characteristic features of our vertebrate
fauna is the relative abundance of amphibian species and individuals,
particularly in the southern portion of the basin. In this respect the
* Wright, A. H., MS., “The Fishes of Monroe Co., New York.”
1909.] THE: CAYUGA LEAKE BASIN, (Navy: 385
basin is similar to the mountains of Pennsylvania. The seventeen
species are distributed among the following families:
eT OPEUG Let ya's fayainrss%—1 sve Ne oe ET. species: />)Pleurodelida © 22...15.4. 502% I species.
Ambystomide .......... I Bithonideey ye ciesrone ates I rs
Plethodontidz ....6....% 5 e Ply bidet ark ts UA Matecoreisveters 2 a
Desmognathide ........ I a3 Ramidee ye nic sacineanin clears 5 oe
Reptilia —Twenty species of reptiles are known within our limits.
The lizards are represented by a single specimen of the Ground Liz-
ard, Leiolopisma laterale, found just northeast of Caroline on the
divide between Sixmile Creek and a branch of the Susquehanna.
Twelve species of snakes are known, three of which are now very
rare. The rattlesnake so far as we know is met with only occasion-
ally in the region about McLean, while the blacksnake and pilot
snake are confined to the extreme southern portion of the basin near
Newfield and Danby.
There are seven species of turtles, representing four families as
follows:
MeTONYENIGEE® (esp chess esses I species. Kainosternidé :.......... I species,
se @lrely rides. ..cisrarsiaysie atei~'s i, Emiydidee: so. ac ean sees 4
Only three of the seven species, the snapping turtle (Chelydra ser-
pentina), Agassiz’s painted turtle (Chrysemys marginata), and the
wood tortoise (Clemmys insculpta) are found distributed throughout
the basin. The other four are confined to the extreme northern por-
tion. The musk turtle (Terrapene odorata), a species fairly widely
distributed east of the Mississippi, was first found in this basin
in the fall of 1908 and proved to be common in the Seneca
River near the Erie Canal. The Soft-shelled turtle (Aspidonectes
spimifer), a species of more northern and western distribution, is
very rare at the south end of ‘the basin but found fairly common
about Montezuma. The Speckled tortoise (Clemmys guttata) is
widely distributed in central and eastern United States but in this
region is confined to the vicinity of the Junius Ponds north and west
of Waterloo. Muhlenberg’s turtle (Clemmys muhlenbergiu), a spe-
cies limited in its range to eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and
the Hudson Valley, is the only more eastern form found here aside
from those of wide distribution.
386
REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF
[October 1,
Birds.—The birds that have been recorded for this region com-
prise 257 species distributed among 51 families as follows:
Colymbidze, )Sacoe. ser cer 3 species.
Gavil daewoo anteaters 2 *
PAN Feria beety Vana ia near aun BUA I f
Weanidzeors! misma cecvrss ait: 9 s
Procellanidsctyane cere cee I i
iPhalacrocoracidee)). see. 2 4
IRelecanidcemee cena oceee I 2
TACO ESI aa at ores bc 33 ~
ifoyabYatsetims bes ine ain sar allet er I ny
JANSHGKEN (a be cp RNR eo Wat 6 i
Grid eee ceive nie I a
Healt ewig mee ae yeti 6 mA
Phalaropodidz 3....@/.2- 3 te
Recurvirostride ......... I es
Scolopacidccmeperercncr at 20 ss
@haradnritder Se eeee ene 4 ke
Aphivizidceyije sj aeieeseiiets « I =:
Odontophoride ......... I i
INGMEVETICED Gon noovooceuT I oe
Columbide ee a -see een 2
Cathantidcegescmner osteo I g
IBAbIKEOMNGED Goggacussooecc 9 a
IPRICOMNGES SoocdcadooouDS 3 se
Bandvomidzeesceeaeeaecet I f
ANikerstormiake, 556u5d5e00n00 I ee
Turdide
Strigidz
Cuculide
Alcidinidee
ici deer ree hice ener h pee
Caprimulgidze/jsnssees
Micropodide
Trochilidz
Tyrannide
Alaudide
Corvide
Icteridz
Fringillidz
Tanagride
Hirundinide
Bombycillidze
Laniidz
Vireonide
Mniotiltide
Motacillidze
Mimide
Troglodytide
Certhiide
Sittidee
Paride
Sylviidee
Q species.
OOM HONE ONCN EC Ly Ga Cuncy
ey
2 Cele jolla eheisisie
ey
@Lal,e) ee [e!e)\e (elie) prelate. ioe
CEO DARD cmt pach)
@hev0/\0: eevee) ie lo,et sie
CC ec
Ce a)
ee
Slope] eJeliate! chels\io diellse
oe 0) e\je/.0) 0 \s)\e 6) 6.0 0 \elelere
eo teheleve!ele)elele oe .ce 0,000
CMC NM tet
8 species.
2 “e
The following tables show the seasonal status of each species
that has been found inthe lake basin.
PERMANENT RESIDENTS.
Bob-white,
Ruffed grouse,
Red-tailed hawk,
Red-shouldered hawk,
Barn owl,
Long-eared owl,
Short-eared owl,
Barred owl,
Screech owl,
Great horned owl,
Hairy woodpecker,
Downy woodpecker,
Red-headed woodpecker,
Prairie horned lark,
Blue jay,
Crow,
Goldfinch,
Song sparrow,
White-bellied nuthatch,
Chickadee.
1909.]
THE CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, Ni Ye
387
TRANSIENT VISITANTS.
Holboell’s grebe (sometimes in
winter ),
Horned grebe (sometimes in
winter),
Common loon (sometimes in
winter),
Bonaparte’s gull,
Common tern,
Red-breasted merganser (a few
regularly in winter),
Mallard (a few regularly in
winter),
Gadwall,
Baldpate,
Green-winged teal,
Blue-winged teal,
Shoveller,
Pintail,
Lesser scaup duck (sometimes
in winter),
Ring-necked duck,
Buffle-head (sometimes in win-
ter)
Ruddy duck (sometimes in
winter ),
Great blue heron,
Black-crowned night heron,
Knot,
Pectoral sandpiper,
Least sandpiper,
Red-backed sandpiper,
Semipalmated sandpiper,
Sanderling,
Greater yellow-legs,
Yellow-legs,
Solitary sandpiper,
Black-bellied plover,
Semipalmated plover,
Broad-winged hawk (found breed-
ing in 1890),
Duck hawk,
Pigeon hawk,
Osprey,
Yellow-bellied flycatcher,
Alder flycatcher (breeds locally),
Rusty blackbird,
Nelson’s sparrow,
Acadian sharp-tailed sparrow,
White-crowned sparrow,
White-throated sparrow,
Junco in winter;
breeds locally),
Lincoln’s sparrow,
(uncommon
Fox sparrow,
Northern loggerhead shrike,
Blue-headed vireo (found breed-
ing in 1893),
Black and white warbler (breeds
locally),
Nashville warbler (breeds locally),
Tennessee warbler,
Parula warbler (breeds locally),
Cape May warbler,
Black-throated blue
(breeds locally),
Myrtle warbler,
warbler
Magnolia warbler (breeds lo-
cally),
Cerulean warbler (breeds on
Howland Island),
388 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
Bay-breasted warbler, Hooded warbler (breeds locally),
Black-poll warbler, Wilson’s warbler,
Blackburnian warbler (breeds Canadian warbler (breeds locally),
locally), Titlark,
Black-throated green warbler Red-breasted nuthatch (some-
(breeds locally), times in winter),
Pine warbler (breeds locally), Golden-crowned kinglet (some-
Palm warbler, times in winter),
Water-thrush (breeds locally), Ruby-crowned kinglet,
Connecticut warbler (fall only), Gray-cheeked thrush,
Mourning warbler (breeds lo- Olive-backed thrush (found breed-
cally), ing in 1890),
Yellow-breasted chat (breeds Hermit thrush (breeds locally).
locally),
SUMMER RESIDENTS.
Black duck (a few found regu- Bald eagle,
larly in winter), Sparrow hawk,
Wood duck, Yellow-billed cuckoo,
Bittern, Black-billed cuckoo,
Least bittern, Belted kingfisher (sometimes in
Green heron, winter),
King rail, Yellow-bellied sapsucker (not
Virginia rail, common at this season),
Sora, Flicker (sometimes in winter),
Florida gallinule, Whip-poor-will,
Coot, Nighthawk,
Woodcock, Chimney swift,
Wilson’s snipe (not common at Ruby-throated hummingbird,
this season), Kingbird,
Spotted sandpiper, Phoebe,
Killdeer, Wood pewee,
Mourning dove, Least flycatcher,
Marsh hawk, Bobolink,
Sharp-shinned hawk, Cowbird,
Cooper’s hawk, Red-winged blackbird (a few in
winter),
1909. ]
Meadow lark (a few in winter),
Baltimore oriole,
Bronzed grackle,
Purple finch,
Vesper sparrow,
Savannah sparrow,
Grasshopper sparrow,
Chipping sparrow,
Field sparrow,
Swamp sparrow (sometimes in
winter),
Towhee,
Rose-breasted grosbeak,
Indigo bunting,
Scarlet tanager,
Purple martin,
Cliff swallow,
Barn swallow,
Tree swallow,
Bank swallow,
THE ‘CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, SNi) ¥. 389
Rough-winged swallow,
Cedar waxwing (irregularly in
winter),
Red-eyed vireo,
Warbling vireo,
Yellow-throated vireo,
Chestnut-sided warbler,
Oven-bird,
Louisiana water-thrush,
Maryland yellow-throat,
Redstart,
Catbird,
Brown thrasher (uncommon at
this season),
House wren,
‘ Long-billed marsh wren,
Wood thrush,
Veery,
Robin (a few regularly in winter),
Bluebird.
WINTER RESIDENTS.
Herring gull,
Merganser,
Redhead,
Canvasback,
Greater scaup duck,
Golden eye,
Old-squaw,
Scoter,
White-winged scoter,
Surf scoter,
Canada goose (more common as
a transient),
Rough-legged hawk,
Pine grosbeak,
Red crossbill,
White-winged crossbill,
Redpoll,
Pine siskin,
Snow bunting,
Tree sparrow,
Northern shrike,
Winter wren (found breeding in
1878),
Brown creeper.
390 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
Or RARE OCCURRENCE.
Red-throated loon (winter), Hudsonian curlew (transient),
Brunnich’s murre (winter), Golden plover (transient),
Kittiwake (winter), Turnstone (transient),
Iceland gull (winter), Turkey vulture (summer),
Ring-billed gull (transient), Goshawk (winter),
Fork-tailed gull (winter), Saw-whet owl (winter),
Least tern (transient), Snowy owl (winter),
Common cormorant (transient), Hawk owl (winter),
Double-crested cormorant (tran- Arctic three-toed woodpecker
sient), (winter ),
White pelican (transient), Red-bellied woodpecker (sum-
Barrow’s golden-eye (winter), mer),
King eider (winter), Olive-sided flycatcher (transient),
Greater snow goose (winter), Orchard oriole (summer),
Brant (winter), Lapland longspur (winter),
Whistling swan (transient), Leconte’s sparrow (transient),
Glossy ibis (summer), Dickcissel (summer),
Egret (summer), Philadelphia vireo (transient),
Whooping crane (transient), Worm-eating warbler (transient),
Yellow rail (transient), Golden-winged warbler (sum-
Red phalarope (transient), mer),
Northern phalarope (transient), Tufted titmouse (summer),
Wilson’s phalarope (transient), Orange-crowned warbler (tran-
Dowitcher (transient), sient),
Stilt sandpiper (transient), Yellow palm warbler (transient),
White-rumped sandpiper (tran- Carolina wren (summer),
sient), Short-billed marsh wren (tran-
Hudsonian godwit (transient), sient),
Willet (transient), Wheatear (fall),
Long-billed curlew (transient), Avocet (fall).
ACCIDENTAL VISITANTS.
Black-capped petrel, Evening grosbeak,
Blue goose, European green-winged teal.
1909.] PE CAYUGA LAKE BASING Na Ye 391
CATALOGUE, OF) SPECIES:
A. Class CYCLOSTOMATA.
is Order Hi YPEROARITA:
1. Family PerromMyzonip%. The Lampreys.
1. Petromyzon marinus unicolor (De Kay). Lake lamprey.
Abundant in the lake, where they are very destructive to the
larger fishes because of their parasitic habits.12 They are found
in great numbers in the lake inlet during the spawning season, which
occurs between May 25 and the middle of June. There is, how-
ever, considerable variation in this respect according to the season.
In 1900 the crest of the spawning season occurred during the last
days of May. In 1902 active spawning continued until June 7,
while in 1903 spawning was over entirely by June 1. Larve of
various sizes are found at all seasons buried in the mud and sand
bars below the spawning grounds. Transformation occurs from
the last of August to the middle of October. The latest record of
transforming individuals is that of three specimens taken October
16, 1907. In one of these transformation was just beginning.
Judging from the different sizes of larve found at a given season
the larval period is of about four years duration.
2. Lampetra wilderi Jordan and Evermann. Brook lamprey.
Common in the inlet, where they may be found in abundance
during the spawning season, which occurs during the middle of May
beginning, according to Professor Gage’s observations, about the
eighth of the month and lasting until about the twentieth. The
maximum period averages near the middle of the month. This
species is not parasitic at any stage in its life-history. It probably
takes no food in the adult stage.
2 See Gage, S. H., op. cit.; also Surface, H. A., “Removal of Lampreys
from the Interior Waters of New York,’ Report of the New York Fisheries,
Forest and Game Commission, 1808, pp. 191-243.
392 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1
B. Class PISCES.
Il. Order ‘*CHONDROSTETL.
2. Family AcIPENSERIDZ. The Sturgeons.
3. Acipenser rubicundus Le Sueur. Lake sturgeon.
Rare.
A large specimen of this species, now in the collection of Cornell Univer-
sity, is reported as being from Cayuga Lake. Mr. Seth Green informs me
that sturgeons have occasionally been taken in Cayuga Lake; but, so far as
he knows, they have never been found in any other of the small lakes of
central New York. I copy the following letter of recent date from Mr. H. V.
Kipp, of Montezuma, N. Y.: “ There have not been any sturgeons taken from
Cayuga Lake since 1880, but quite a number before that date, and the largest
known weighed 35 pounds.” (Meek.)
On June 4, 1905, a specimen four feet long and weighing forty-
two pounds was taken at Sheldrake by Dr. L. A. Gould and on
December 3, 1908, a specimen (C. U. 5130) weighing fifty pounds
was caught in the Seneca and Cayuga canal near Montezuma by
William Ferrei and George Wildner. These are the only records
of the sturgeon since Meek’s list was published.
it) Order LEPIDOSTEL
3. Family Lepisosteip®@. The Gars.
4. Lepisosteus osseus (Linnaeus). Long-nosed gar.
Rare. ‘Occasionally taken from the north end of the lake.
Not as numerous as they used to be” (Meek). There are in the
Cornell University Museum seven specimens taken at the south end
of the lake as follows:
June 17, 1877, in the lower course of Fall Creek.
June 13, 1894, from shallow water at the head of the lake.
June 8, 1896, in Fall creek about one half of a mile from the
mouth.
March 26, 1899, from the lake near Ithaca.
April 17, 1899, from the lake near Ithaca.
May 28, 1900, from shallow water at the head of the lake.
August 12, 1908, from the lake near Ithaca. Most of the speci-
mens taken here are small, still showing the dark lateral band.
1909.] See sCAVUGA, LAKE BASING NaN: 393
IV. Order HALECOMORPHI.
4. Family Amimp#. The Bowfins.
5. Amiatus calva (Linnaeus). Bowfin.
Abundant. Meek recorded this species as
Ithaca”
‘
“seldom taken near
and “not common at the north end of the lake.” During
recent years the bowfin has increased so rapidly in numbers that it
has become a serious pest. In shallow water during the month of
August hundreds may be seen in rowing a quarter of a mile. Foster
Parker, of Union Springs, reports that he has repeatedly seen them
capture and swallow the young of marsh birds.
V. Order NEMATOGNATHI.
5. Family Strurip#. The Catfishes.
6. Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque). Spotted catfish.
Rare. Only two specimens have been recorded; one eleven
inches long was taken on hook and line near the mouth of the inlet
by Mrs. R. J. Ashdown July 10, 1902; the other, ten inches long, was
taken in the same locality August 25, 1908.
7. Ameiurus natalis (Le Sueur). Yellow cat.
There is one specimen (No. 888) in the collection of Cornell
University taken from the lake September 27, 1877. This is prob-
ably the specimen referred to in Meek’s list: “I have seen but one
specimen of this species from the lake. It was taken a few years
”
ago.
8. Ameiurus vulgaris (Thompson). Long-jawed cat.
The collection of Cornell University contains two specimens of
this species taken from the lake; one November 7, 1885, the other
February 16, 1886.
g. Ameiurus nebulosus (Le Sueur). Common bullhead.
Abundant in the lake and all of its tributaries. In the larger
streams it is found above the falls.
10. Schilbeodes gyrinus (Mitchill). Tadpole cat.
Common throughout the lake along muddy shores and in the
streams, below falls, over a muddy bottom.
PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. 193 Z, PRINTED JANUARY 6, I9QIO,
394 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
Vi sOrder PEECLOSPONDYEL:
6. Family Catostomip&. The Suckers.
11. Catostomus commersonii (Lacépéde). Common white sucker.
Abundant throughout the basin both above and below falls.
12. Catostomus nigricans Le Sueur. Hog sucker.
There is a specimen in the U. S. National Museum from Cayuga
lake. Mr. Richard Rathbun writes: “The specimen is among the
Museum’s earliest collections and is not accompanied by complete
data.”
13. Erimyzon sucetta oblongus (Mitchill). Chub sucker.
This species occurs throughout the lake although much more
abundant at the north end.
14. Moxostoma aureolum (Le Sueur). Red horse.
Common at the north end of the lake and taken occasionally at
the south end. Meek recorded this species as M. macrolepidotum.
Specimens recently taken and the specimen in the collection of Cor-
nell University are all clearly aureolum.
7. Family Cyprinip#. The Minnows.
15. Chrosomus erythrogaster (Rafinesque). Red-bellied dace.
One specimen taken July 13, 1901, by T. L. Hankinson near
Ithaca in a cold brook which is tributary to Fall Creek.
16. Pimephales notatus (Rafinesque). Blunt-nosed minnow.
Abundant at both ends of the lake and in the sluggish portions
of the streams below the falls.
17. Semotilus bullaris (Rafinesque). [Fall fish.
Two specimens have been recorded. One taken from the lake,
January 24, 1891, and another from Beaver Brook near McLean
May 21, 1902.
18. Semotilus atromaculatus (Mitchill). Creek chub.
Found throughout the basin as the most common minnow. In
the streams above falls it is the most common fish.
aa
19. Abramis crysoleucas (Mitchill). Roach.
Common in all sluggish waters over a muddy bottom. It has
not been found above falls.
1909.] THE, CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, Nia. 395
20. Notropis anogenus Forbes. Black-chinned minnow.
“Quite common in the canal near Montezuma” (Meek). It has
been taken several times in fairly large numbers at the mouth of
Fall Creek and in the lower course of Sixmile Creek.
21. Notropis cayuga Meek. Cayuga minnow.
Common in the lake and the lower course of tributaries. It
has not been found above falls.
22. Notropis heterodon (Cope). Varying-toothed minnow.
Common in the south end of the lake and the lower courses of
streams where the water is sluggish. It appears to be uncommon
at the north end of the lake. The only record we have for that
region is twenty specimens taken in the Canoga marshes, June 24,
tgot. In 1885 J. H. Comstock and S. E. Meek took several speci-
mens from Beaver Creek near McLean. This is the only record of
its occurrence above the falls.
23. Notropis blennius (Girard). Straw-colored minnow.
Found only at the north end of the basin in sluggish water.
24. Notropis procne (Cope). Swallow-tailed minnow.
Not common. It has been taken several times in the lower
courses of Sixmile and Renwick creeks.
25. Notropis hudsonius (De Witt Clinton). Spot-tailed minnow.
This species was found for the first time in this basin on April
25, 1908. It was taken in large numbers with a minnow seine in a
slough at the Needham Biological Station in the Renwick marsh.
26. Notropis whipplii (Girard). Silverfin.
Common in the lower courses of all the streams at the south end
of the basin. In the fall of 1903 several specimens were taken from
Eddy pond in Cascadilla Creek above a series of falls which aggre-
gate about 400 feet. This is the only place where the species has
been fourtd above falls. Its presence here is probably to be ac-
counted for by the following: Mr. Wilbur Genung during the sum-
mer of 1903 stocked a mill pond, situated at the source of Casca-
dilla Creek, with fishes taken from an ice pond on the lowlands
near Ithaca where this species is common. Specimens of this were
undoubtedly among other species taken and later, when the dam
396 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
went out during a flood, found their way to Eddy pond between
which and the site of the dam there are no falls.
27. Notropis cornutus (Mitchill). Red fin.
Abundant throughout the basin.
28. Notropis atherinoides Rafinesque. Rosy minnow.
Rare. Meek took one specimen in Sixmile Creek and a few at
Montezuma. Two specimens were taken near the mouth of Fall
Creek November 23, 1906, and another at the Needham Biological
Station April 25, 1908.
29. Notropis umbratilis lythrurus Jordan. Blood-tailed minnow.
Meek records one specimen taken from a small stream near the
Montezuma dry dock.
30. Rhinichthys atronasus (Mitchill). Black-nosed dace.
Common in the southern portion of the basin and as far north
as Ludlowville. At present there is no evidence of its occurrence
at the north end of the lake. It is found both above and below falls.
31. Hybopsis kentuckiensis (Rafinesque). Horny head.
The only record we have of this species is that of Meek: “A
few specimens taken from Montezuma only.”
32. Exoglossum maxillingua (Le Sueur). Cut-lip minnow.
Common. Found in all streams below falls in clear water.
33. Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus. Carp (introduced).
Abundant in the lake and in a few of the streams. This species
was first noticed in the lake about 1889. Four or five years prior to
this date three different persons had constructed ponds and stocked
them with carp. One was at Newfield in a tributary to the inlet, a
second was in a small tributary to Fall Creek six or seven miles from
the lake and a third was at Ludlowville in a tributary of Salmon
Creek. In 1888 all three of these ponds gave way during a heavy
flood and in the following year carp began to be in evidence in the
lake and have increased rapidly to the present time.
1909.] REE CAYUGA LAKE: BASIN) NEOY: 397
Vil Order ARODES:
8. Family AncuILtip&. The True Eels.
34. Anguilla chrysypa Rafinesque. Common eel.
Common in the lake and the larger streams and ponds. The
largest specimen taken in the basin of which we have any record
is one caught in the lake May 29, 1893, which measured three
feet in length. One caught off Kidder’s Ferry a few years ago is
said to have measured five feet.
Vi ‘Order [SOSPOND YE.
g. Family CLupeip&. The Herrings.
35: Pomolobus pseudoharengus (Wilson). Alewife, saw-belly.
One of the most abundant fishes in the lake where it has been
known since 1872. In the spring from the first of May to the mid-
dle of August they die in great numbers and are washed ashore.
During the summer of 1907 dead individuals were much more
abundant than in the three preceding years.
Many persons in the region of Cayuga lake attribute the presence
of the alewife here to its introduction by Seth Green who, accord-
ing to Dr. H. M. Smith,'* disclaimed any responsibility for their
presence in Lake Ontario, but we have been unable to find any
statement concerning Cayuga Lake. Dr. T. H. Bean" is of the
opinion that they have come hither of their own accord, for he
writes:
As to their presence in Seneca and Cayuga lakes, New York, we have
ground for believing that they have, of their own accord, penetrated thus far
into the interior of New York State. Mr. Fred Mather writes that he has
seen alewives go up the canal locks at West Troy and Professor H. L. Smith,
of Geneva, who first noticed them in the neighborhood of Seneca Lake in
June, 1868, states that the canal was opened at about that time and thinks that
they might come into the New York lakes from the Chesapeake or Delaware
Bays through Elmira and Painted Post.
* Smith, H. M., “Report on the Fisheries of Lake Ontario,” Bull. U. S.
Fish Com., 1892, p. 188.
* Bean, T. H., “ The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States,”
Section I., Natural History of Aquatic Animals, Washington, 1884, p. 590.
“ Fishes of New York,” Bull. 60, New York State Museum, p. 200.
|
398 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
Mr. John Diltz, of Ithaca, for many years a fisherman, and Mr.
E. C. Stillwell, now of Ithaca but formerly a ferryman at Kidder’s
both state that the alewife was introduced about 1872. Mr. John
Vann tells us that they were introduced purposely as food for the
lake trout.
10. Family SAtmMontip&. The Salmons and Trouts.
Coregonus clupeiformis (Mitchill). Common whitefish.
“T have seen no specimens of this species from the lake of which
it is however undoubtedly an inhabitant”? (Meek). Various re-
ports have been received of whitefish taken from the lake but we
have never seen one that was of this species. Mr. John Vann states
that all of the so-called whitefish brought to his notice have proved
to be ciscoes. We do not believe that it is found here, the fact that
it has been introduced notwithstanding.
36. Argyrosomus osmeriformis (H. M. Smith). New York smelt
Still taken in fairly large numbers but not as common as for-
merly. Old fishermen tell us that it has never been abundant since
the introduction of the alewife. Prior to that time, according to
their statements, it was very abundant.
37. Salmo fario Linneus. Brown trout (introduced).
This species of trout is found in considerable numbers in the
lake inlet, Enfield, Sixmile and Taughannock creeks. During the
last season a very large specimen was caught in the reservoir in
Sixmile Creek.
38. Salmo irideus Gibbons. Rainbow trout (introduced).
Fairly common in the lake inlet and its tributaries. Mr. Vann
has seen individuals make their way up over the low falls in Enfield
(Greek:
39. Cristivomer namaycush (Walbaum). Lake trout.
Common in the deeper portions of the lake. They have appar-
ently increased in numbers within the past few years. Mr. Vann
has observed that they follow the alewives into shallow water in
the spring. During the late spring and summer months many in-
dividuals, dead from lamprey wounds, are picked up from the sur-
face of the lake. Occasionally one is found not quite dead and
with the lamprey still clinging.
1909.] THE CAYUGA EAKE BASIN, (NY: 399
40. Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill). Brook trout.
Common in suitable streams throughout the lake basin. Dur-
ing the summer of 1908 many of the younger individuals perished
because of the long draught which dried many of the smaller streams.
Pe Order HAPLOMI:
11. Family UMpripa. The Mud Minnows.
41. Umbra limi (Kirtland). Mud minnow.
This species has never been taken at the south end of the lake.
Meek took it in small numbers at Montezuma and Cayuga.
12. Family Esocipa#. The Pikes.
42. Esox reticulatus (Le Sueur). Eastern pickerel.
Common throughout the basin. Many individuals from this
region approach very closely the characteristics of Esox vermicula-
tus.
43. Esox lucius Linnzus. Northern pike.
Common throughout the basin. -
13. Family Paeciriup#. The Killifishes.
44. Fundulus diaphanus (Le Sueur). Gray-back.
Abundant in the lake, marshes, flood lands and the lower courses
of the streams.
X. Order HEMIBRANCHII.
14. Family GasterosTEID&. The Sticklebacks.
45. Eucalia inconstans (Kirtland). Brook stickleback.
Common in standing water and pools both on the flats and up-
lands above falls.
XI. Order ACANTHOPTERI.
15. Family Percopsip#. The Trout Perches.
46. Percopsis guttatus Agassiz. Trout Perch.
Common. Found in the south end of the lake and the lower
courses of the streams. At the breeding season, which occurs dur-
ing the first two weeks in May, they are abundant in the shallow
sloughs of the marshes.
400 ) REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
16. Family ATHERINIDZ. The Silversides.
47. Labidesthes sicculus (Cope). Brook silverside.
“Not found near Ithaca. Several specimens taken from a
small stream which empties into the canal a few rods south of
Montezuma” (Meek). It is now found to be common at the south
end of the lake over a muddy bottom along shore and in the lower
courses of streams.
17. Family CENTRARCHIDZ. The Sunfishes.
48. Pomoxis sparoides (Lacépede). Calico bass.
Common at the south end of the lake. During the late summer
and early fall of 1906 the young of the species was abundant in the
lower course of Fall Creek and its tributaries.
49. Ambloplites rupestris (Rafinesque). Rock bass.
Common. The young are abundant in the lower courses of all
streams throughout the basin. It is not found above falls except
in Eddy pond in Cascadilla Creek where its presence is probably to |
be explained in the same way as Notropis whipplii.
50. Apomotis cyanellus (Rafinesque). Green sunfish.
No specimens of this species have been recorded from the lake
basin in recent years and never from the south end. Meek found
a few near Montezuma.
51. Lepomis pallidus (Mitchill). Bluegill.
Meek found it in small numbers at Montezuma. None have
been recorded from other localities in the basin.
52. Eupomotis gibbosus (Linnzeus). Pumpkin seed.
Abundant throughout the basin. It spawns during the whole of
June and first part of July.
53- Micropterus dolomieu Lacépéede. Small-mouthed black bass.
Common. Meek recorded this species as not found by him at the
south end of the lake where it is now common. During late sum-
mer and early fall the young are found abundantly in the lower
courses of the streams tributary to the lake. By the last of August
the young vary between four and five centimeters in length and by
December have attained a length of from six to seven centimeters.
1909.] TEE CAYUGA TAKE “BASINS: Nir. 401
54. Micropterus salmoides (Lacépéde). Large-mouthed black bass.
Common in the lake. Young of this species are found in sum-
mer and fall along with those of the former species. Specimens
obtained in the streams in December average between seven and
eight centimeters in length.
18. Family Percip#. The Perches.
55. Stizostedion vitreum (Mitchill). Wall-eyed pike.
Found in the lake but not common.
56. Stizostedion canadense (Smith) Sauger.
Found in the lake in about the same abundance as the preceding
species.
57. Perca flavescens (Mitchill). Yellow perch.
Abundant throughout the basin. It spawns during the first of
April.
58. Percina caprodes zebra (Agassiz). Manitou darter.
Rare. Two specimens have been recorded in this basin; one
May 27, 1907, in Fall Creek near the mouth and one July 18, 1907,
in the inlet about four miles from the lake.
59. Boleosoma nigrum (Rafinesque). Johnny darter.
One specimen taken in Renwick brook on the flats April 21,
1900, by T. L. Hankinson and C. O. Houghton.
60. Boleosoma nigrum olmstedi (Storer). Tessellated darter.
Common in the lake and tributaries below falls.
61. Etheostoma flabellare Rafinesque. Fan-tailed darter.
Common. Found in localities along with the preceding species.
19. Family SERRANID#. The Sea Basses.
62. Roccus chrysops (Rafinesque). White bass.
Two specimens of this species have been taken from the lake
basin; one from the inlet April 18, 1877, and one April 15, 1896.
20. Family Cortina. The Sculpins.
63. Cottus ictalops (Rafinesque). Blob.
Common at both ends of the lake in cold water. The eggs are
402 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
deposited in masses attached to the under side of stones where they
are guarded by one of the parents.
64. Cottus gracilis (Heckel). Miller’s thumb.
Not common but found throughout the basin.
21. Family Gapip#. The Cods.
65. Lota maculosa (Le Sueur). Burbot.
Not common. Found only in deep water.
C. Class AMPHIBIA.
XII. Order PROTEIDA.
22. Family Proreipz. The Mud Puppies.
66. Necturus maculosus Rafinesque. Mud puppy.
Abundant in the lake and the lower courses of the inflowing
streams. They have been taken in the inlet three miles from the lake.
XML: + Order URODELA:
23. Family AMBYSTOMID.
67. Ambystoma punctatum (Linnzus). Spotted salamander.
Common throughout the basin. Depending upon the season, egg-
laying begins the last of March or the first of April immediately
after emerging from hibernation. The earliest date March 13, 1903.
Transformation of the larva begins the last of July or about four
months after the eggs are laid. From this time to the middle of Sep-
tember transforming individuals may be found.
24. Family PLETHODONTID.
68. Hemidactylium scutatum Tschudi. Four-toed salamander.
Not common. The first specimens recorded were obtained near
Ithaca in the valley of Sixmile Creek by H. W. Norris in April 18809.
No other specimens were found in this basin until October 22, 1905,
when twenty-one specimens were found on Larch Hill, two miles
south of Ithaca on the east side of the inlet valley. They were all
found under stones or about the bases of stumps in the open.
* Gage, S. H., “ Notes on the Cayuga Lake Stargazer,” The Cornell Review,
November, 1876, p. 91.
1909.] THE CAYUGA LAKE (BASIN, Ni Ye 403
69. Plethodon erythronotus (Green). Red-backed salamander, gray
salamander.
Common. Found usually in dry places under stones or any
object which will furnish cover. They appear from hibernation the
last of March or the first of April. The earliest date upon which
they have been recorded in the spring is March 17, 1903. The latest
date on which they have been observed in the fall is November 1,
1903. The eggs are deposited during June and July, under logs,
loose bark or in decaying wood, in bunches of from seven to twelve.
Each egg is attached by a slender cord to a common focus and the
whole cluster is attended by the female. The young transform im-
mediately after hatching. There is every possible gradation be-
tween the red-backed and gray forms.*® During the summer of
1908 a pure red individual was found at Chautauqua, N. Y.
70. Plethodon glutinosus (Green). Slimy salamander.
Common but limited to certain localities. Found usually in
moist humus, manure piles, damp moss banks and decaying vegeta-
tion. Its breeding habits are not known.
71. Gyrinophilus porphyriticus (Green). Purple salamander.
Common. Found in all cold springs and streams flowing
through gorges or ravines. They remain in the larval stage for a
period of two years, at least. The only record of transformation
which we have obtained is a specimen 11.5 cm. long found March 14,
1903, in which the larval characteristics have almost entirely disap-
peared. A female taken May 12, 1906, with mature eggs in the
ovaries and what appeared to be a larva not long after hatching
taken from a cold brook June 29, 1901, are the only clues we have
to the breeding habits.
72. Spelerpes bislineatus (Green). Two-lined salamander.
Common in and about cold swift brooks. The breeding habits
have not been observed in this locality.
*® Reed, H. D., “A Note on the Coloration of Plethodon cinereus,’ Am.
Nat., Vol. 42, 1908.
404 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
25. Family DESMOGNATHID&.
73. Desmognathus fusca (Rafinesque). Dusky salamander.
One of the most abundant salamanders in the lake basin. It is
found under most any sort of object which will furnish cover in
wet and marshy places along the cooler streams. The maximum
period of egg-laying is July. The eggs are laid in clusters joined
by a slight cord to a common focus but not attached to extraneous
objects as in the case of Plethodon erythronotus. The female at-
tends the eggs and is found usually with the body partly encircling
them. The larve transform from September to December, when
they are from 18 to 20 millimeters long.
26. Family PLEURODELID2.
74. Diemictylus viridescens Rafinesque. Vermilion-spotted newt.
The most abundant salamander found in the lake basin. The
adult is found in every pool, pond, ditch and stretch of standing
water. Individuals in the red land stage are common on the woods
under dead leaves and decaying bark and wood. The eggs are de-
posited singly upon the leaves of aquatic plants from April to June.
Larve begin to transform to the red land stage in August, continuing
until September. Some individuals pass the winter in the larval
stage. After two and one half or three years the red land form
assumes a viridescent coloration and becomes permanently aquatic.'*
xix Order SALTEN TTA:
27. Family Buronip&. The Toads.
75. Bufo americanus Le Conte. American toad.
Abundant. The average date of emergence from hibernation is
April 15. The earliest recorded date is March 19, 1903. They
proceed immediately to the water where the eggs are deposited. The
maximum period of egg-laying is between April 20 and May 30,
although stragglers continue to spawn until July. The larval period
lasts for about sixty days, the tadpoles beginning to transform about
the last of June. The latest fall record for this species is October
20, 1900.
™See Gage, S. H., “Life-history of the Vermilion-spotted Newt,’ Am.
Nat., 1801, p. 1084.
1909.] TEE \CAVUGAWAIGE, BASIN TING (Ye 405
28. Family Hytipa. The Tree Frogs.
76. Hyla versicolor Le Conte. Common tree toad.
Abundant. It appears from hibernation the last of April or very
first of May. The eggs are laid the first of June in bunches of
from four to twenty-five, which float at the surface either attached
to vegetation or free. Transformation begins the first of August
making the larval period of from fifty to sixty days duration. The
latest fall record for this species is October 25, 1905.
77. Hyla pickeringii (Holbrook). Peeper.
Abundant. It emerges from hibernation the last of March. The
height of the egg-laying season is April although individuals are
found depositing their eggs as early as the last of March. The eggs
are attached singly to vegetation beneath the surface of the water.
Sometimes they are found in bunches of from four to twelve.
Transformation begins the middle of July at the end of a larval
period of from go to 100 days duration. The latest fall record is
October 30, 1901.
29. Family Ranipm. The Frogs.
78. Rana pipiens Schreber. Leopard frog.
The most abundant anuran throughout the basin. They come
out from hibernation the last of March or the first of April. The
eggs are seldom deposited before April 10 from which date active
spawning continues for about four weeks. The tadpoles begin to
transform the middle of July, about 100 days after the eggs are laid.
The latest fall record is November 18, 1906.
79. Rana palustris Le Conte. Pickerel frog.
Common. The average date of its appearance in the spring is
April 13. In some seasons it has been found to emerge the last of
March. The eggs are deposited in bunches attached to submerged
twigs and grasses. As a rule egg-laying does not begin until the
last of April. They may be distinguished from the eggs of other
frogs of this region by their decided yellow color. The tadpoles
transform the last of July, about 90 days after the eggs are deposited.
The latest fall record for the species is November 1, 1902.
405 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
80. Rana clamata Daudin. Green frog.
Common. It appears from hibernation the middle of April.
The eggs are not laid until the first of June, through this month,
July and a part of August. The eggs are deposited in a frothy
film which floats at the surface of the water. The larval period is of
about thirteen months duration transformation beginning the middle -
of the July of the following year in which the eggs are laid. The
latest fall record is November 1, 1902.
81. Rana catesbeiana Shaw. Bull frog.
Common. This is the last one of the frogs to emerge from hiber-
nation, never appearing before the middle of May. The eggs are
laid the last of June and the first of July in an irregular sheet or
film attached to sticks or twigs near the surface of the water. The
larval stage lasts for a period of two years, the tadpoles transform-
ing in July and August of the second year following hatching.
82. Rana sylvatica Le Conte. Wood frog.
Common. It appears in the spring, the last of March or the first
of April. Egg-laying begins almost immediately. The young trans-
form the last of June about go days after the eggs are laid. The
latest fall record is November 1, 1906.
D. Class REPTILIA.
XX. Order OPHIDIA,
30. Family CoLusrip#. The Harmless Snakes.
83. Diadophis punctatus (Linnzus). Ring-necked snake.
Common. The earliest date upon which it has been observed in
the spring is April 19, 1900. The latest fall date is October 16, 1905.
84. Liopeltis vernalis (Harlan). Smooth green snake.
Not common. De Kay, however, records it as common at the
north end of the lake in the marshes. The latest fall record is Octo-
ber 20, 1906.
85. Bascanion constrictor (Linnaeus). Black snake.
Formerly common. Now confined to the region about New-
field and Danby in the southern portion of the basin.
1909.] REE, CAYUGA LAI BASIN Ni Ye 407
86. Coluber obsoletus obsoletus Say. Racer.
Rare. Only four specimens recorded for the basin. Two of
these were taken June 14, 1883, one during the summer of 1889
and the fourth, a specimen five feet long, was captured alive at New-
field in August, 1899.
87. Lampropeltis doliatus triangulus (Boie). Milk snake.
Common throughout the basin.
88. Lampropeltis doliatus collaris (Cope).
One specimen taken June 16, 1903. So far as we know this is
the first record of this variety for the state. The specimen agrees
with Cope’s figure and description and with a specimen of collaris
taken at Danville, Ill.
89. Natrix sipedon (Linnzus). Water snake.
Abundant throughout the basin, especially in the marshes where
on clear days they are found coiled on stools of dead sedges.
go. Storeria occipitomaculata (Storer). Red-bellied snake.
Common throughout the basin under logs, pieces of bark and
dead leaves along hillsides and dry places. In the fall they are seen
in the open upon lawns, roads and walks. The earliest spring
record is March 18, 1903. The latest fall record is October 21, 1906.
gi. Thamnophis saurita (Linneus). Ribbon snake.
Common, especially in the lowlands and moist meadows. The
earliest spring record is March 19, 1905. The latest they have been
seen in the fall is October 30, 1901.
92. Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis (Linnzus). Striped garter snake.
This is the most abundant snake in the basin. They appear in
the spring about the first of April and are abroad until the last of
October.
31. Family CrotaLtipz. The Pit Vipers.
93. Crotalus horridus Linnzus. Common rattlesnake.
Formerly abundant. They are still met with about McLean.
408 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
MXM Order LACERTIELS:
32. Family Scincip@. The Skinks.
94. Leiolopisma laterale (Say). Ground lizard.
One specimen (No. 3550) taken at Caroline April 23, 1892, by
Wee terry tand L.A. Puertes:
Oy Order MESTUDINATAS
33. Family TrRionycHip%. The Soft-shelled Turtles.
95. Aspidonectes spinifer (Le Sueur). Common soft-shelled turtle.
Common at the north end of the lake. -A few specimens have
been taken at the south end.
34. Family CHELypRID&. The Snapping Turtles.
96. Chelydra serpentina (Linnzus). Snapping turtle.
Common. Found in all marshy places. The earliest spring
record is April 13, 1906. The eggs hatch the first of October. On
October 3, 1883, twenty-four specimens were found that had just
hatched. A few were still in the nest but the larger number were
in line moving towards water.
35. Family KinostErNID#. The Musk Turtles.
g7. Terrapene odorata (Latreille). Musk turtle.
Common in the Seneca river and marshes about Montezuma
where it was first found by A. A. Allen and J. T. Lloyd, September
24, 1908.
36. Family Emypipa. The Pond Turtles.
98. Chrysemys marginata (Agassiz). Agassiz’ painted turtle.
Abundant throughout the basin. On January 25, 1906, a single
individual was observed swimming under the ice on a pond near Ithaca.
The same day 150 were taken by fishermen at the head of the lake.
This early emergence from hibernation was due to the extremely
mild winter up to that date and the unusually warm week of January
25. On the same date this species was observed along the southern
shore of Lake Ontario.
1909.] THE CAYUGA-LAKE BASIN, Nery: 409
99. Clemmys muhlenbergii (Schoepff). Muhlenberg’s tortoise.
For the present this species must be considered rare. Thus far
only three specimens have been taken; one on June 15, 1877, near
Ithaca, and two at Junius, May 26, 1906. The specimen taken near
Ithaca was kept alive for a time and on July 20 deposited eggs in
the sand of the terrarium.
100. Clemmys insculpta (Le Conte). Wood tortoise.
Common throughout the basin in wooded regions along water
courses.
tor. Clemmys guttata (Schneider). Spotted turtle.
The only records of this species are from Junius in the extreme
northwestern portion of the basin where it is common.
E. Class AVES.
XXIII. Order PYGOPODES. The Diving Birds.
37. Family Cotympip#. The Grebes.
102 (2).1* Colymbus holboelli (Reinhardt). Holboell’s grebe.
Not an uncommon transient during April and November. A
few are found regularly in winter. The latest spring record for
this species in the basin is May 25, 1907. ‘They are seldom taken at
the south end of the lake.
103 (3). Colymbus auritus Linnzus. Horned grebe.
Common transient from April 1 to May to and occasionally
taken in winter. In the spring they become common about the mid-
dle of April and all have disappeared by May 10. They appear in
the fall the first of October, gradually increasing in numbers until
November throughout which they are common.
104 (6). Tachybaptus podiceps (Linnzeus). Pied-billed grebe.
A common transient and an uncommon but regular summer resi-
dent in the marshes at the north end of the lake. In the spring they
appear April 1 and are common throughout the month. In the fall
they become common the first of October and continue so until Nov-
ember 1. The latest fall record is a young female taken Novem-
The number of the species in “ Check-list of the American Ornitholo-
gists’ Union.”
PROC, AMER. PHIL. SOC,, XILVIII. 193 BB, PRINTED JANUARY 7, IQIO.
410 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
ber 15, 1897. In a collection of birds made at Ithaca about fifty
years ago are several immature specimens ranging in size from just
hatched to birds two-thirds grown. In the spring of 1909 a nest
was found in the Renwick marshes.
38. Family GAviupa. The Loons.
105 (7). Gavia immer (Brunnich). Common loon.
Common transient. They appear in the spring from April 14 to
May 20, being the most common the very last of April. On April
28, 1908, Mr. L. A. Fuertes reported a flock of 50 off the mouth of
Taughannock Creek. All of our fall records of this species occur
between October 29 and November 29. Audubon mentions this
species as breeding on Cayuga Lake in 1824.
106 (11). Gavia stellata (Pontoppidan). Red-throated loon.
Rare. There is a specimen of a male in the collection of Cornell
University taken on Cayuga Lake at Ithaca, November 4, 1875, by
Dr. M. J. Roberts. Another specimen was taken at Sheldrake a few
years ago by Jacob Cram. It was identified by L. A. Fuertes, who
states that it was probably killed in November, 1880.
39. Family Atcip#. The Auks.
107 (31). Uria lomvia (Linneus). Brtinnich’s murre.
Occasionally seen in recent years. The first record for Cayuga
Lake was a specimen reported in 1854 by William Hopkins of Au-
burn.t® On December 14, 1895, a specimen was shot and is now in
the possession of H. G. Wilson, of Ithaca. On December 16 of the
same year two more specimens were killed. According to our
records they did not appear again until the fall of 1899 when in Nov-
ember a female was obtained. Eaton?® mentions them as on “ Cay-
uga Lake, winter of 1899.” The next record was a specimen taken
at Ithaca December 19, 1901 by T. L. Hankinson. Since that date
we have no knowledge of this species on the lake.
® Hopkins, William, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. V., p. 13, July, 1854.
* EFaton, E. H., “ Birds of Western New York,” Proc. Rochester Acad.
Sci., Vol. IV., pp. 1-164.
1909.] THE | CAVUGA CAKE BASING (Nix: 411
XXIV. Order LONGIPENNES. The Long-winged Swimmers.
40. Family Larip#. The Gulls and Terns.
108 (40). Rissa tridactyla (Linnzus). Kittiwake.
A specimen was reported by William Hopkins in 1854.
109 (43). Larus leucopterus Faber. Iceland gull.
A specimen was taken on Cayuga Lake by L. A. Fuertes during
the winter of 1896-7 and another was brought in by a fisherman
March 17, 1897.
110 (51). Larus argentatus Pontoppidan. Herring gull.
Common winter resident. It is abundant during the spring and
fall. They appear in the fall the first of September and leave in
the spring about May 25 the latest record being June 2, 1906.
III (54). Larus delawarensis Ord. Ring-billed gull.
Foster Parker, of Cayuga, has a specimen taken on the lake a few
years ago.
112 (60). Larus philadelphia (Ord). Bonaparte’s gull.
Transient. Common in spring, rare in fall. It is found in the
spring from April 20 to May 25 and is usually common during that
period. On June 14, 1908, a flock of eleven individuals was reported
at the south end of the lake and on July 24 of the same year L. A.
Fuertes reported a single individual from Cayuga at the north end of
the lake. In the fall this species is found occasionally in October
and November.
113 (62). Xema sabinei (Sabine). Fork-tailed gull.
One specimen taken at the north end of the lake about 1887 by
Foster Parker. It is now in the collection of E. H. Eaton.
114 (70). Sterna hirundo Linnzus. Common tern.
Regular, though not common, transient through May and the
first of June. Mr. L. A. Fuertes reports a specimen the latter part
of April 1898 and two adults near the mouth of Fall Creek at Ithaca,
July 6, 1908. The only fall record of this species is a single ind-
vidual reported by L. A. Fuertes the last of August, 1907.
412 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
115 (74). Sterna antillarum (Lesson). Least tern.
Mr. F. R. Rathbun** recorded two specimens taken on Cayuga
Lake.
116 (77). Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis (Gmelin). Black tern.
Not an uncommon spring migrant during the last half of April
and the first of May. Foster Parker has found them nesting on old
musk rat houses in the Cayuga marshes. L. A. Fuertes took a speci-
men August 28, 1900, at Ithaca, and reported three others seen at the
same time.
XXV. Order TUBINARES. The Tube-nosed Swimmers.
41. Family PRocELLARIID«&. Shearwaters and Petrels.
117 (98). Astrelata hasitata (Kuhl). Black-capped petrel.
There was a specimen in the collection of L. S. Foster, number
759, taken in Cayuga Co., early in September, 1893.
XXVI. Order STEGANOPODES. The Totipalmate Birds.
42. Family PHALAcRocorAcip2. The Cormorants.
118 (119). Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnzus). Common cormorant.
A specimen was reported by William Hopkins as taken by him at
Auburn.
119 (120). Phalacrocorax auritus (Lesson). Double-crested cor-
morant.
Rare. An adult male was taken November 16, 1875, by Dr. J. M.
Roberts. A second specimen was taken September 29, 1905, at Au-
rora, N. Y., and is now in the collection of Wells College. An im-
mature specimen was obtained at Ithaca, August 2, 1906, by L. A.
Fuertes.
43. Family PELECANID&. The Pelicans.
120 (125). Pelecanus erythrorhynchos Gmelin. White pelican.
There are two records of this species for Cayuga Lake. A
specimen was obtained by Mr. Cave in 1876, concerning which Mr.
J. W. Beal?? writes as follows:
Rathbun, Frank R., “ A Revised List of the Birds of Central New York,”
p. 41, Auburn, N. Y-
“? Beal, J. W., American Naturalist, Vol. I. (1867), p. 323.
1909.] THE CAMUGA) LAKE BASIN: NEw; 415
Sometime during the spring of 1864, near a marsh on Cayuga Lake, two
large birds were seen for several weeks, but one of them left a few days
before the other was killed. None of the hunters had ever seen anything of
the kind about here before. It proved to be a specimen of the white or
rough-billed pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchus Gmelin), in good condition,
and its wings measured fully eight feet from tip to tip.
In the late summer about 1888 Foster Parker killed a specimen which
is now in the New York State Museum.
XXVIII. Order ANSERES. Lamellirostral Swimmers.
44. Family ANatip#. The Ducks and Geese.
I2I (129). Mergus americanus Cassin. Merganser.
Common winter resident from the middle of October to the last
of April. The latest spring record is April 27, 1907, upon which
date they were still common.
122 (130). Mergus serrator Linnzus. Red-breasted merganser.
Common transient and found in small numbers during the winter.
It is not common after April 25 and the latest date upon which they
have been recorded in the spring is May 25, 1907.
123 (131). Lophodytes cucullatus (Linnzus). Hooded merganser.
Common transient from the last of March to the last of April.
Foster Parker reports it as breeding occasionally in the Montezuma
marshes. In the fall individuals are common from the middle of
October to the middle of November.
124 (132). Anas platyrhynchos Linneus. Mallard.
Common transient during March and April and again in October.
It is sometimes found in winter and Foster Parker reports it as
breeding in the marshes at the north end of the lake. They first
appear in the fall about the middle of September and remain as late
as the last of November but are most common in October.
125 (133). Anas rubripes tristis Brewster. Black duck.
Common transient and regular but not common in winter. It
breeds regularly and in fair numbers in the Canoga and Montezuma
marshes.
414 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
126 (135). Chaulelasmus streperus (Linneus). Gadwall.
Common transient the latter part of March and the entire month
of April. They appear in the fall the last of September and remain
until the very last of October. The latest fall record is a male
killed November 20 at Cayuga. This species is not common at the
south end of the lake.
127 (136). Mareca penelope (Linnzeus). European Widgeon.
Mr. F. S. Wright of Auburn has a specimen killed on Cayuga
lake in the spring of 1881. It is an adult male in full plumage.
Foster Parker reports that several have been killed at Cayuga.
128 (137). Mareca americana (Gmelin). Baldpate.
Common transient from March 23 to April 26, the bounding
dates of our records. In the fall they appear during the last week
of September and remain until the first of November. The latest
date upon which they have been recorded in any numbers is October
22, 1905.
129 (138). Nettion crecca (Linnzus). European teal.
Accidental. A male was shot by Will Canfield at Cayuga, April
10, 1902. The specimen was identified by E. H. Eaton.
130 (139). Nettion carolinensis (Gmelin). Green-winged teal.
Common transient during April and October. Arrivals are to be
noted the last of September but it is most common during October.
This species is very rarely found in winter.
131 (140). Querquedula discors (Linnzus). Blue-winged teal.
Common transient during April and in the fall during the last
half of September and throughout October. It formerly bred in
fairly large numbers in the marshes at the north end of the lake.
132 (142). Spatula clypeata (Linnzus). Shoveller.
Common transient. It is not often found at the south end of the
lake.
133 (143). Dafila acuta (Linneus). Pintail.
Transient during the last of March and the first of April and in
the fall during October and the first half of November.
1909.] Die CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, ‘No Y: 415
134 (144). Aix sponsa (Linnzus). Wood duck.
Summer resident but not as common as formerly. It still breeds
in small numbers at Cayuga. During the summer of 1907 a pair
nested in the woods of the Renwick marshes at Ithaca.
135 (146). Marila americana (Eyton). Red head.
Common transient and regularly present in winter. In the spring
it is common from the middle of March throughout April. In the
fall it is found during October and November.
136 (147). Marila vallisneria (Wilson). Canvas-back.
Common transient and a regular winter visitant in smaller num-
bers from the middle of November to the last of March.
137 (148). Marila marila (Linneus). American scaup duck.
Winter resident from the first of October to the very last of
April. It is more common during migration.
138 (149). Marila affinis (Eyton). Lesser scaup duck.
Common transient. A few are occasionally found in winter.
They arrive in the fall the first of October and remain until the
middle of November. In the spring they are to be found from
April 1 to June 24, the latest date.
139 (150). Marila collaris (Donovon). Ring-necked duck.
Usually a rare transient. Foster Parker reports it as common
during the spring of 1905 at the north end of the lake.
140 (151). Clangula clangula americana (Bonaparte). Golden-eye.
Common winter resident from November 1 to April I.
I41 (152). Clangula islandica (Gmelin). Barrow’s golden-eye.
Rare. One specimen, an adult female, taken at Cayuga by L. A.
Pnoertesy December, 20; 1906: (Coll), of L.A. F..no0.) 1523.)
142 (153). Charitonetta albeola (Linnzus). Buffle-head.
Common transient. It appears in the spring from the middle of
April to the last of May. In the fall arrivals from the north appear
usually the second week in October and remain until the last of
November.
143 (154). Harelda hyemalis (Linnzus). Old-squaw.
Common transient and not uncommon in winter. They arrive
the middle of October and remain until the first of May.
416 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
144 (162). Somateria spectabilis (Linneus). King eider.
“A mounted specimen of an adult male, taken on Cayuga lake,
is now in the barroom of the Cornell House at Trumansburg, N. Y.”
(L. A. Fuertes). On November 3, 1908, at Cayuga four individuals,
three females and an immature, were shot from a flock of twenty.
145 (163). Oidemia americana Swainson. Scoter.
Common transient and uncommon winter resident. The earliest
fall record is a specimen shot October 13, 1885.
146 (165). Oidemia deglandi Bonaparte. White-winged scoter.
Common winter resident from October 3 to May 1.
147 (166). Oidemia perspiciliata (Linnzus). Surf scoter.
Uncommon. We have no spring records of this species. The
earliest date upon which it has been recorded in the fall is that of a
specimen shot by L. A. Fuertes, October 13, 1906.
148 (167). Erismatura jamaicensis (Gmelin). Ruddy duck.
Common transient in the fall from October 1 to November 1.
It is occasionally taken in the spring but much less common at this
season.
149 (169a). Chen hyperborea nivalis (Forster). Greater snow
goose.
Two young were killed near Ithaca during the last of March,
TO70.7°
150 (169.1). Chen cerulescens (Linnzus). Blue goose.
Two specimens, male and female, were killed a few years ago on
Cayuga Lake by Foster Parker. They are now in the New York
State Museum.
151 (172). Branta canadensis (Linnzeus). Canada goose.
Common transient and an occasional winter resident. They are
common in the spring from March 10 to May 7. In the fall this
species begins to arrive from the north about October 1 and is pres-
ent until December 1. The latest record of what appeared to be
migrating flocks is December 9, 1907.
Forest and Stream, Vol. 7, p. 283.
1909.] THE CAYUGA, LAKE: BASEN, Ni ¥- 417
152 (173a). Branta bernicla glaucogastra (Brehm). Brant.
Rare. No specimens of this species have been recorded from the
lake basin in recent years. Foster Parker has in his possession a
specimen shot on Cayuga Lake a few years ago. From the Auburn
List?* we quote the following:
One shot on Cayuga Lake, N. Y., near the railroad bridge by Mr. Charlie
Traverse. The same was identified by Mr. Greene Smith—Horace Silsby,
in Auburn Daily Bulletin of December, 1877. An adult male received from
Cayuga Lake, November 26, 1878, which was also shot near the railroad
bridge by Mr. David Copeman.
153 (180). Olor columbianus (Ord). Whistling swan.
Rare. Two specimens were shot by Foster Parker a few years
ago and another is recorded by Fowler, Wright and Rathbun? from
the Seneca River. On March 16, 1908, a flock of 118 individuals
was reported from the north end of the lake. According to Father
Raffeix swan were common on the lake in the days of the Jesuits for
he writes :*° “It [Cayugal abounds in swan and geese all winter.”
XXVIII. Order HERODIONES. The Heron-like Birds.
45. Family Inipiwa. The Ibises.
154 (186). Plegadis autumnalis (Hasselquist). Glossy ibis.
William Hopkins recorded a specimen from Cayuga Lake in
1854. There are two specimens in the possession of Foster Parker
taken on the Seneca River in 1902. F.S. Wright shot one specimen
and saw three others on Howland Island in May, 1902. On May
27, 1907, two males and two females were shot at Cayuga by Foster
Parker.
46. Family Arpeip&. The Herons.
155 (190). Botaurus lentiginosus (Montagu). Bittern.
Common summer resident. It nests in every marsh of any size
throughout the basin. The average date of spring arrival is April
15, the earliest, March 28, 1908. Nesting begins the middle of May
*« A Revised List of Birds of Central New York,” collected and pre-
pared for publication by Frank R. Rathbun, Auburn, N. Y.
* Ornithologist and Odlogist, Vol. 7, p. 133.
*6 Father Raffeix, “ Relations for the Year 1671-72,” Quebec edition, p. 22.
1 .
418 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
and continues for the rest of the month. Young in the nest are
found from the first to the middle of June. They depart for the
south the first of November.
150 (191). Ixobrychus exilis (Gmelin). Least bittern.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 15, the earliest May 9, 1908. The active period of nesting
extends from May 20 to June 10. Young are found in the nest
from about June 8 to June 25. We have no records of this species
in the fall later than September Io.
157 (194). Ardea herodias Linnzus. Great blue heron.
Common spring and fall transient and summer resident at Mer-
idian, N. Y., at the north end of the basin. The average date of
spring arrival is March 28, the earliest, March 18, 1890. In the
fall they appear at the south end of the basin the last of July, the
earliest record being a specimen taken July 18, 1889, by L. A.
Fuertes. We have no records indicating that this species remains
aiter November I.
158 (196). Herodias egretta (Gmelin). Egret.
This species was recorded in 1854 by William Hopkins. Foster
Parker has in his collection a specimen shot at Cayuga but without
record or recollection of date.
159 (201). Butorides virescens (Linnzus). Green heron.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 2, the earliest, April 18, 1906. Nesting begins about May
10 and continues until the middle of July. On July 11, 1906, four
nests were found, one containing four eggs and the others, young
birds which left the nest upon approach. This species leaves in the
fall about the last of September, the latest record being October 2,
1902.
160 (202). Nycticorax nycticorax nevius (Boddaert). Black-
crowned night heron.
Never common but a regular spring and fall migrant. In the
former season our records extend from May 11 to June 2, in the
latter from July 14 to October 29.
1909.] are CAYUGA LAKE, BASIN rN -Y: 419
POX Order PALUDICOLZ:.” ‘The Cranesand Rails:
47. Family Gruipz. The Cranes.
161 (204). Grus americana (Linnzus). Whooping crane.
“Several years ago a specimen was killed on Cayuga Lake—
I'rank A. Ward” (Eaton, 1901).
48. Family Ratiip#. The Rails.
162 (208). Rallus elegans Audubon. King rail.
Not an uncommon summer resident in the marshes at the north
end of the basin. There is but one record of this species at the
south end of the lake, an adult male shot November 29, 1901.
163 (212). Rallus virginianus Linnzus. Virginia rail.
Common summer resident in all the marshes throughout the
basin. The average date of spring arrival is May 1, the earliest,
April 24, 1904. They nest the last half of May and throughout
June. The earliest date for nest is May 18, 1905. The latest date
upon which nest and eggs have been found is July 9, 1906. They
are abundant throughout September and the first half of October.
All have usually departed by November 1.
164 (214). Porzana carolina (Linnzus). Sora.
Common summer resident throughout the basin. The average
date of spring arrival is May 1, the earliest, April 14, 1908. About
the middle of October this species becomes exceedingly abundant and
usually all have left by the last of the month. The nesting period
is the same as for the preceding species.
165 (215). Coturnicops noveboracensis (Gmelin). Yellow rail.
Mr. F. S. Wright, of Auburn, reports that two or three have
been taken at the north end of the lake. One of them was a male
shot at Meridian, N. Y., in 1897.
166 (219). Gallinula galeata (Lichtenstein). Florida gallinule.
Fairly common summer resident in the marshes at the north end
of the lake where it arrives the last of April. Ralph and Bagg?‘
7 Ralph, William L., and Bagg, Egbert, “ Annotated List of the Birds of
Oneida County, N. Y., and Its Immediate Vicinity,” Trans. of the Oneida
Historical Society, Vol. I11., p. tor, 1886.
420 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
recorded this species as very common in the marshes of Seneca
River where they bred in great numbers. In recent years it has not
been recorded near Ithaca. E. H. Eaton informs us that C. J.
Pennock saw a female with young in the Renwick marshes in July,
1879. Cornell University has recently come into the possession of a
collection of birds made near Ithaca in 1850. Among the skins is
one of an adult male and one of a young individual in first plumage.
167 (221). Fulica americana Gmelin. Coot.
Common transient the last of April and the first of May and an
occasional summer resident in the marshes at both ends of the lake.
On May 25, 1907, a nest containing five eggs was found in the west
marsh at Ithaca. On June 1 it contained ten eggs and on June 9,
when it was last visited, the number was the same. During October
this species is very common and departs usually by the last of the
month.
XX! Order LIMICOLAL, The Shore ‘inds.
49. Family PHALARopopipa. The Phalaropes.
168 (222). Phalaropus fulicarius (Linnzus). Red phalarope.
Rare transient visitant. William Hopkins reported a specimen
in 1854. In the collection of Cornell University there is a specimen
of a male killed on Cayuga Lake October 18, 1885, by E. H. Sar-
gent.
169 (223). Lobipes lobatus (Linnzus). Northern phalarope.
In the collection of E. H. Eaton are two specimens, male and
female, taken at Montezuma in 1895. In the collection of Cornell
University is a specimen taken at Ithaca in 1850.
170 (224). Steganopus tricolor (Vieillot). Wilson’s phalarope.
One specimen, a young individual, was obtained by L. A. Fuertes
at Ithaca’ in the tallvor 1692.
49a. Family Recurvirostrip&. The Avocets and Stilts.
170a (225). Recurvirostra americana Gmelin. Avocet.
One specimen (C. U. 5219) was taken at Renwick, September
16, 1909, by Mr. A. A. Allen.
1909.] (LE wCAMUGA SL ARE BASIN, IN. Y. 421
50. Family Scotopacip&. The Snipe.
171 (228). Philohela minor (Gmelin). Woodcock.
Summer resident in moist areas throughout the basin. They
arrive in the spring the last of March and leave in the fall during
the first two weeks of November. The woodcock is slowly in-
creasing in numbers about Ithaca. Mr. John Vann tells us that in
the fall of 1908 all the individuals of several localities succeeded in
migrating without any loss from shooting. He attributes the in-
crease partly to the growth of cover in the uplands where they are
found during the fall.:
172 (230). Gallinago delicata (Ord). Wilson’s snipe.
Common transient between April 12 and May 20. In 1908 one
was recorded on April 3. They are most abundant during the latter
part of April. Our autumn records fall between September 22 and
November 18. The downy young were found at Meridian, N. Y.,
by E. G. Taber and F. S. Wright states that it is a rare breeder in
the marshes at Cayuga.
173 (231). Macrorhamphus griseus (Gmelin). Dowitcher.
There is a specimen in the collection of Foster Parker taken on
Cayuga lake but without other data. From August 18 to 26, 1908
Foster Parker shot one and saw five others.
174 (233). Micropalama himantopus (Bonaparte). Stilt sandpiper.
Foster Parker shot a specimen at Cayuga October 10, 1907, in a
flock of red-backed sandpipers. August 25, 1908, E. H. Eaton took
a specimen at Cayuga and two more on September 20. On Sep-
tember 28, 1908, A. A. Allen and J. T. Lloyd shot a specimen at the
north end of the lake.
175 (234). Tringa canutus Linnzus. Knot.
Two specimens were shot at Cayuga by Foster Porker, August
30, 1908. Mr. E. H. Eaton and Mr. L. A. Fuertes report them as
frequently seen at Cayuga in the fall. It is altogether probable that
this species is not an uncommon transient.
176 (239). Pisobia maculata (Vieillot). Pectoral sandpiper.
Common transient at the north end of the lake but rare at the
south end. L.A. Fuertes has taken one specimen at Ithaca on each
422 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
of the following dates: During the fall of 1892, August 13, 1899,
and October 12, 1890.
177 (240). Pisobia fuscicollis ( Vieillot). _White-rumped sandpiper.
One specimen taken at Montezuma October 12, 1906, by L. A.
Fuertes.
178 (242). Pisobia minutilla (Vieillot). Least sandpiper.
Common transient. Most common in spring from May 7 to 27.
The latest fall record is October 12, 1906. Regarding the time of
first appearance in the fall we have no data.
179 (243a). Pelidna alpina sakhalina (Vieillot). Red-backed sand-
piper.
Common transient being most abundant in the fall during
October.
180 (246). Ereunetes pusillus (Linnzus). Semipalmated sand-
piper
Common transient. In the spring they are found all through
May. In the fall they appear August 20 and leave November 1.
They are most common during the first half of October.
181 (248). Calidris leucophea (Pallas). Sanderling.
Specimens are frequently taken at both ends of the lake. It
appears to be a fairly common transient in both spring and fall.
182 (251). Limosa hemastica (Linneus). Hudsonian godwit.
“ A rare spring and autumn migrant” (Auburn List). A speci-
men was taken at Ithaca about November 5, 1878, by C. J. Pennock
and mounted by R. B. Hough.
183 (254). Totanus melanoleucus (Gmelin). Greater yellow-legs.
Transient. Fairly common from April 30 to May 20. It is com-
mon in the fall during October.
184 (255). Totanus flavipes (Gmelin). Yellow-legs.
Common transient from May Io to June 1, the earliest spring
date being April 28, 1908. It is common in the fall during October.
The latest fall date is November 10, 1900.
185 (256). Helodromas solitarius (Wilson). Solitary sandpiper.
Common transient from April 28 to May 20 and July 14 to Sep-
1909.] THE, GAYUGA (LAKE -BASIN, Ny: 423
tember 20. The average date of spring arrival is May 1, the earliest
date being April 28, 1905.
186 (258). Catoptrophorus semipalmatus (Gmelin). Willet.
“A regular migrant. Three secured in the fall of 1876” (Au-
burn List, p. 33). This species has not been recorded in recent
years.
187 (261). Bartramia longicauda (Bechstein). Upland plover.
The only record of this species which we have is a pair found
breeding by Foster Parker during the summer of 1907. In the
Auburn List (p. 33) it is spoken of as not an uncommon summer
resident.
188 (263). Actitis macularia (Linnzus). Spotted sandpiper.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival is
April 24, the earliest, April 20, 1906. The active nesting period
is from May 20to June 15. L.A. Fuertes reports that he has found
nests with eggs as late as July 26 (1900).
189 (264). Numenius americanus Bechstein. Long-billed curlew.
“A regular but somewhat rare migrant ” (‘‘ Auburn List,” p. 23).
Not recorded in recent years.
190 (265). Numenius hudsonicus Latham. MHudsonian curlew.
“Occurs irregularly during the migration. One specimen pre-
served in the collection of the Phoenix Sportsman’s Club at Seneca
BallsNe Yer(s Auburn Mist,-p.24). ‘cherens.a specimen (C. U;
1158), in the collection of Cornell University taken at Union Springs
in 1882.
51. Family CuHarapriup#®. The Plovers.
191 (270). Squatarola squatarola (Linnzus). Black-bellied plover.
Regular transient in the fall and occasionally in spring. On
October 14, 1899, L. A. Fuertes shot a specimen at Ithaca which
constitutes the only record for the south end of the basin. Mr.
A. A. Allen and Mr. J. T. Lloyd reported it common at the north
end of the lake on September 26, 1908. Our fall records all occur
between September 20 and October 30.
192 (272). Charadrius dominicus Muller. Golden plover.
The only record of this species is a specimen taken by E. H.
Eaton and L. A. Fuertes at Cayuga, October 29, 1907.
424 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
193 (273). Oxyechus vociferus (Linnzus). Killdeer.
Common transient and not uncommon summer resident from
March 12 to November 15. It is most abundant in the fall.
194 (274). Agialitis semipalmata Bonaparte. Semipalmated
plover.
Transient. Uncommon in the spring, fairly common in the fall
from August 15 to September 30.
52. Family Apurizip#. The Turnstones.
195 (283a). Arenaria interpres morinella (Linneus). Turnstone.
Mr. L. A. Fuertes took a specimen at Ithaca June 3, 1906 and
Foster Parker reports several taken at Cayuga.
XXXI. Order GALLINA. The Gallinaceous Birds.
52a. Family OpontopHorip&. The Quail.
196 (289). Colinus virginianus (Linnzus). Bob-white.
Common permanent resident. It is very scarce all along the
eastern part of the basin.
53. Family Terraonip#. The Grouse.
197 (300). Bonasa umbellus (Linneus). Ruffed grouse.
Common permanent resident. All of our nesting records fall
between April 20 and May 15.
XXXII. Order COLUMB2. The Doves.
54. Family Cotumpipa. The Pigeons.
198 (315). Ectopistes migratorius (Linnzus). Wild pigeon.
Formerly abundant. None have been recorded here since 1892
when “A few were seen in Ithaca—L. A. F.” (Eaton, p. 32).
199 (316). Zenaidura macroura carolinensis (Linneus). Mourn-
ing dove.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival is
April 1, the earliest, March 8, 1890. Nest building has been found
to begin as early as April 15 and eggs have been found until June
1909.] THE CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, N.Y. 425,
18. In the Renwick marshes they nest in colonies varying from
three or four to a dozen pairs. The nests are frequently only a few
feet apart, built upon stumps, brush piles, logs and heaps of debris.
XXXII. Order RAPTORES. The Birds of Prey:
55. Family CatuHartip#. The American vultures.
200 (325). Cathartes aura septentrionalis (Wied). Turkey vulture.
Mr. C. J. Hampton saw eight individuals hovering above a rank
woodchuck on July 1, 1900, at Cosad, N. Y. One specimen was shot.
On June 20, 1908, Mr. J. T. Lloyd reported one from the Renwick
flats at Ithaca.
56. Family Buteonip2. The Hawks and Eagles.
201 (331). Circus hudsonius (Linneus). Marsh hawk.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is March 27, the earliest being March 25, 1906. They remain in
Autumn until the last of October, the latest fall record being Octo-
ber 28, 1908. The only nesting records of this species which we
have are: a nest and eggs found May 27, 1904, and a nest with five
young found June 29, 1906.
202 (332). Accipiter velox (Wilson). Sharp-shinned hawk.
Common summer resident and occasionally taken in winter. It
is common from the last of March until the first of November. The
only breeding record is a nest of young which took wing on July 16,
1906.
203 (333). Accipiter cooperi (Bonaparte). Cooper’s hawk.
Common summer resident, more abundant in the fall. The aver-
age date of spring arrival is March 25, the earliest, March 17, 1907.
They remain in the fall until November 1.
204 (334). Astur atricapillus (Wilson). Goshawk.
Uncommon winter visitant. A specimen was taken near West
Candor, November 26, 1907, by C. S. Gridley. Mr. Fuertes reports
that he sees one or more every winter. It is recorded in the Auburn
List as an “uncommon winter visitor.”
PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. 193 CC, PRINTED JANUARY 7, IQIoO.
426 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
205 (337). Buteo borealis (Gmelin). Red-tailed hawk.
Common resident species.
206 (339). Buteo lineatus (Gmelin). Red-shouldered hawk.
Common resident species and more common in winter than the
preceding species. The earliest nesting date recorded is April 26,
1905.
207 (343). Buteo platypterus (Vieillot). Broad-winged hawk.
Uncommon summer resident. The earliest spring record, March
16, 1906.
208 (347a). Archibuteo lagopus sancti-johannis (Gmelin). Rough-
legged hawk.
Regular but not common winter visitant from Jan. I to April 1.
209 (352). Haliaetus leucocephalus (Linnzus). Bald eagle.
Not common permanent resident. It is more frequently seen in
the spring and fall. It bred formerly near Crowbar point and still
breeds in the vicinity of Union Springs.
56a. Family Fatconipa. The Falcons.
210 (350). Falco peregrinus anatum (Bonaparte). Duck hawk.
Rare transient during spring and fall.
211 (357). Falco columbarius Linneus. Pigeon hawk.
Uncommon transient.
212 (360). Falco sparverius Linneus. Sparrow hawk.
Common summer resident from March 15 to November 15 and
occasionally taken in winter.
56b. Family PANDIonip#. The Fish Hawks.
213 (364). Pandion haliaétus carolinensis (Gmelin). Osprey.
Common transient during May and October. Several are seen
every year during the summer months but we have no evidence that
they nest within the basin. The average date of spring arrival is
April 12, the earliest, April 5, 1901, 1902 and 1906. Migrants begin
to arrive in the fall about September 20. They are common from
the last of September to the middle of October. The latest fall
record is a female killed October 25, 1899.
1909.] GEE, CAYUGA) TAKE” BASIN; ING Y. 427
57. Family ALuconip#. The Barn Owls.
214 (365). Aluco pratincola (Bonaparte). Barn owl.
The barn owl has been recorded within the basin at various
intervals since 1880 at which time Foster Parker reports one taken at
Cayuga. On December 13, 1885, one was taken at Auburn by F. J.
Stupp. Another was taken by L. O. Asbury September 23, 1900, at
Sennett and on December 1, 1904, a specimen was shot near South
Danby. Mr. Samuel Tisdel, of Ithaca, has in his possession a
mounted specimen taken near Ithaca in the fall of 1907. He states
that during the fall of that year three others taken near Ithaca were
brought to his shop to be mounted. On June 6, 1908, A. A. Allen
and J. T. Lloyd saw one in the Renwick Marshes. November 27,
1908, one was killed in Michigan Hollow in the extreme southern
portion of the basin. There is little doubt that this species is in-
creasing in the lake basin.
58. Family Stricipz. The Owls.
215 (366). Asio wilsonianus (Lesson). Long-eared owl.
Common permanent resident. The only breeding record which
we have is a nest containing eggs found April 9, 1905.
216 (367). Asio flammeus (Pontoppidan). Short-eared owl.
A resident species. Common in summer at the north end of the
basin, uncommon in the southern portion.
217 (368). Stryx varia Barton. Barred owl.
Uncommon resident.
218 (372). Cryptoglaux acadicus (Gmelin). Saw-whet owl.
Rare. ‘“ Adult male taken July 18, 1878. Two specimens re-
ceived, taken in Cayuga Co., April 14, 1877, and November, 1878”
(“ Auburn List,” p. 27). A female was taken at Sennett January
25, 1904, by Charles Lyon and one was taken at Ithaca January 16,
1905, by aes Allent.and \J. i. Lloyd:
219 (373). Otus asio (Linnzus). Screech owl.
Abundant permanent resident.
220 (375). Bubo virginianus (Gmelin). Great horned owl.
Uncommon permanent resident.
428 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
221 (376). Nyctea nyctea (Linnzus). Snowy owl.
Irregular winter visitant. In the collection of Cornell University
are three specimens from this basin taken as follows: winter of
1878 at Aurora, December 12, 1890, at Covert, February 22, 1902 at
Newfield.
222 (377a). Surnia ulula caparoch (Miller). Hawk owl.
The only record of this species is a male taken by L. O. Ash-
bury at Conquest, November 23, 1902. Two birds were seen and
one captured.
XXXIV. Order COCCYGES. The Cuckoo-like Birds.
59. Family Cucutip®. The Cuckoos.
223 (387). Coccyzus americanus (Linnzus). Yellow-billed cuckoo.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 10, the earliest, May 6, 1905.
224 (388). Coccyzus erythrophthalmus (Wilson). Black-billed
-Cuckoo.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 9, the earliest, April 24, 1904.
60. Family ALcepInip&. The Kingfishers.
225 (390). Ceryle alcyon (Linnzus). ~ Belted kingfisher.
Common summer resident. On December 23, 1874, a female was
taken at Ithaca and on January 15, 1905, one individual was seen
near an open stream in the Renwick wood at Ithaca. The average
date of spring arrival is April 4, the earliest, March 17, 1907. It is
common in the fall until the middle of October. By the 25th of this
month all have usually disappeared.
XXXV. wOrder PICI. The W eodpeckers:
61. Family Picipa. The Woodpeckers.
226 (393). Dryobates villosus (Linnzus). Hairy woodpecker.
Common resident species.
4
1909.] THEY CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, N:. Y¥- 429
227 (394c). Dryobates pubescens medianus (Swainson). Downy
woodpecker.
Common permanent resident. The active season of nesting is
from May 10 to June 15. The earliest record of nesting is May 6,
1904. Our earliest record of young on the wing is June 9, 1904.
228 (400). Picoides articus (Swainson). Arctic three-toed wood-
pecker.
An occasional winter visitant. Specimens were taken at Ithaca
during the winter of 1895-6 and on November 1, 1901, by L. A.
Fuertes. A female was taken October 19, 1901, at Sennett by L. O.
Ashbury.
229 (402). Sphyrapicus varius (Linneus). Yellow-bellied sap-
sucker.
Common transient and “reported as breeding in Cayuga, Yates
and Oneida Counties” (Eaton). The average date of spring ar-
rival is April 10, the earliest, March 30, 1908. They become com-
mon the last of April and the first of May. The latest date upon
which individuals have been seen at Ithaca is May 26, 1900. Usu-
ally all have left by May 15. They appear in the fall from Sep-
tember 20 to November 1. The latest fall record is one seen Nov-
ember 27, 1908.
230 (406). Melanerpes erythrocephalus (Linnzus). Red-headed
woodpecker.
Rare in winter but becomes common about May 5. The only
nesting records which we have are eggs found June 13, 1903, and
May 16, 1907.
231 (409). Centurus carolinus (Linnzus). Red-bellied wood-
pecker.
Rare. There are in the collection of Cornell University three
specimens taken near Ithaca. One in 1850, another in 1858 and a
third taken by L. A. Fuertes in November, 1894. Mr. G. C. Em-
body took a female in a small swamp just north of Auburn, March
4, 1808.
232 (412a). Colaptes auratus luteus Bangs. Northern flicker.
Common summer resident and occasionally present in winter.
430 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
Migrants begin to arrive the last of March from which time it is
common until October 20. Frequently many are seen as late as the
first of December.
XXXVI. Order MACROCHIRES. The Goatsuckers, Swifts and
Hummingbirds.
62. Family CaprRiMuLGIDA. The Goatsuckers.
233 (417). Antrostomus vociferus (Wilson). Whip-poor-will.
Common summer resident in the basin from May 1 to September
1. In the region about Ithaca it is very uncommon. The latest that
it has been observed in the fall is October 7, 1907. The earliest
spring record is April 29, 1906.
234 (420). Chordeiles virginianus (Gmelin). Nighthawk.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 109, the earliest, May 15, 1900.
63. Family Micropopip%. The Swifts.
235 (423). Chaetura pelagica (Linneus). Chimney swift.
Abundant summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is April 23, the earliest, April 19, 1889. Nests with eggs are found
from May 20 to July 5. Usually all have departed in the fall by
October I.
64. Family Trocuinip®. The Hummingbirds.
236 (428). Archilochus colubris (Linnzus). Ruby-throated hum-
mingbird.
Common summer resident from May 10, the average date of
spring arrival, to September 10. Nesting dates all fall between May
23 and July 21. The crest of the nesting season is between June 15
and 30.
XXXVII. Order PASSERES. The Perching Birds.
65. Family Tyrannipz. The Flycatchers.
237 (444). Tyrannus tyrannus (Linneus). Kingbird.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival is
May 6, the earliest, May 3, 1902. They nest the very last of May
and during June.
1909.] TEE sCAVUGA (LAKE? BASIN, \Ne Y: 431
238 (452). Myiarchus crinitus (Linnzus). Crested flycatcher.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 4, the earliest, May 1, 1900. Nesting begins the last of May
and lasts through June.
239 (456). Sayornis phoebe (Latham). Phceebe.
Abundant summer resident along the streams and lake shores.
The average date of spring arrival is March 20, the earliest, March
g, 1899. During the first half of October they depart for the south,
latest record being October 19, 1902. Nesting begins April 20 and
continues through May and June. The earliest nesting record is
April 13, 1901. The latest date for eggs is a nest found June 21,
1gOO.
240 (459). Nuttallornis borealis (Swainson). Olive-sided fly-
catcher.
Rare. A specimen was taken in Fall creek gorge by L. A.
Fuertes May 11, 1905. G. C. Embody took a male at the north end
of the lake May 30, 1808.
241 (461). Myiochanes virens (Linnzus). Wood pewee.
Abundant summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 13, the earliest, May 1, 1900. They nest throughout the
month of June.
242 (463). Empidonax flaviventris Baird. Yellow-bellied fly-
catcher.
The definite records are three specimens, two males and one
female taken at Ithaca by R. B. Hough on May 20, 1882, and several
taken in the vicinity of Waterloo and reported by E. H. Eaton. A
few are reported seen each year between May 15 and June Io.
243 (4662). Empidonax traillii alnorum Brewster. Alder fly-
catcher.
Uncommon transient and rare summer resident. The average
date of spring arrival is May 14, the earliest, May 4, 1905. The
yellow-bellied and the alder are the last flycatchers to arrive in the
spring, the latter loitering along into June. In 1906 it was found
until June 9 in the willow and alder thickets along the west side of
the Renwick marshes. L. A. Fuertes reports it as breeding at Cay-
432 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
uta, N. Y., just outside the Cayuga basin on the southwest. A. A.
Allen and J. T. Lloyd found a nest containing two eggs on June 16,
1908, at Ithaca.
244 (467). Empidonax minimus Baird. Least flycatcher.
Abundant summer resident. The average date of spring ar-
rival is May 4, the earliest, May 1, 1906. Abundant everywhere ex-
cept the denser wooded areas.
66. Family ALAupIp&. The Larks.
245 (474). Otocoris alpestris (Linnzus). Shore lark.
It is reported by Mr. Fuertes that the shore lark was formerly
common in this basin. It is now replaced by the prairie horned lark.
A few are, however, still found in winter. Mr. G. C. Embody took
two specimens at Auburn.
246 (474b): Otocoris alpestris praticola Henshaw. Prairie horned
lark.
Permanent resident although not common during December and
January. They become common about the first of February. This
species is the first of our Passerine birds to nest. On April 7, 1904,
a nest was found at Trumansburg which contained one egg and two
young. Dating back fourteen days, which, according to Bendire is
the period of incubation, the eggs must have been laid not far from
March 20 to 23. On April 20, 1902, there was taken at Ithaca a
young individual which had just left the nest. On April 6, 1906,
young just beginning to fly were seen. In 1907 Mr. A. A. Allen
found on April 3 a nest containing eggs and on April 4 another
nest in which the eggs hatched April 10. The young of this nest
were killed by a very heavy snow storm a few days later.
67. Family Corvip#. The Crows and Jays.
247 (477). Cyanocitta cristata (Linneus). Blue jay.
Common permanent resident. It is now rarely seen in the vicin-
ity of Ithaca except for a short period during the spring and fall.
It has not been known to nest in this immediate vicinity since 1889
when a pair built in a small grove of oaks on the Cornell Campus.
1909.] THE CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, N. Y. 433
In all other portions of the basin they are fairly common. At En-
field on May 5, 1907, A. A. Allen found a nest containing five eggs.
248 (486a). Corvus corax principalis Ridgway. Northern raven.
“Formerly not uncommon at the north end of the basin. The
last reported was one, seen by Foster Parker in 1880, pursued by a
number of crows.” (Eaton).
249 (488). Corvus brachyrhynchos C. L. Brehm. Crow.
Common permanent resident. Nests containing eggs are most
commonly found from April 10 to 20. In 1903 a nest containing
eggs was found on April 3. The latest record of nest and eggs is
May 16, 1900.
68. Family Icrerip. The Blackbirds and Orioles.
250 (494). Dolichonyx oryzivorus (Linnzus). Bobolink.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 4, the earliest, April 30, 1900. By July 10 they are gathered
in large flocks in the marshes where they remain through August
and the first of September, at about the middle of which they depart
for the south.
251 (495). Molothrus ater (Boddaert). Cowbird.
Abundant summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is March 28, the earliest, March 14, 1899. Eggs are found from
May 5 to June 15. The maximum period of egg-laying is the last
half of May. The pheebe, the vireos, redstart and yellow warbler
are the most common victims of the cowbird’s parasitic habits.
252 (498). Agelaius pheniceus (Linnzus). Red-winged blackbird.
Common summer resident and found regularly in small numbers
in the marshes during winter. Migration begins about March Io.
The earliest record is a large flock of males in full song, seen Feb-
ruary 22, 1902. The earliest record of nesting is May 12, 1906.
The most active breeding period is from the middle of May to the
first of June. Young are on the wing by June 5. During the first
two weeks of July this species collects in large flocks in the marshes
where they remain until the last of November. Flocks containing
hundreds are seen migrating all through November. So far as they
have been observed at Ithaca they follow the inlet valley towards the
south.
434 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
253 (501). Sturnella magna (Linnzus). Meadow lark.
Common summer resident and found regularly in small num-
bers in winter. The average date of the spring arrivals is March
17, the earliest, March 4, 1906. They remain common until the
last of October.
254 (500). Icterus spurius (Linnzus). Orchard oriole.
Rare. On May 30, 1898, G. C. Embody took a male at Cayuga.
On May 27, 1899, Burdett Wright found a pair nesting at Monte-
zuma. A male was taken at Ithaca, May 3, 1890, by L. A. Fuertes.
who saw a pair at Ithaca, June 7, 1902. A male in song was found
May 18, 1908, in the Inlet valley just south of Ithaca and in the same
locality A. A. Allen and J. T. Lloyd found a nest which contained
four eggs and one young.
255 (507). Icterus galbula (Linnzus). Baltimore oriole.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 3, the earliest, April 30, I900 and 1905. They nest from
May 10 to June 1.
256 (509). Euphagus carolinus (Muller). Rusty blackbird.
Common transient. It arrives usually the last days of March. The
earliest date is March 18, 1901. It is common from April 15 to 30
but small flocks are seen until May 15.
257 (5110). Quiscalus quiscula aeneus (Ridgway). Bronzed
grackle.
Common summer resident and occasionally found in winter.
The average date of spring arrival is March 14, the earliest, March
4, 1906. Nesting begins the last half of April and continues through-
out May. By May 25 large numbers of young are on the wing; dur-
ing the first week in June this species begins to collect in flocks and
resort to common roosts.
69. Family Frrincitt1p#. The Sparrows.
258 (514). Hesperiphona vespertina (W. Cooper). Evening gros-
beak.
Accidental visitant. During the winter of 1890 when it was so
common in New England it appeared here in fairly large numbers
1909.] PE CAYUGA (LAKE BASING NEY. 435
from January 22, when first seen, to March 28. They were not seen
again until April 11, 1904, when L. A. Fuertes shot a pair on the
Cornell Campus. On December 8, 1906, Mrs. A. T. Kerr reported
one which she saw on Cornell Heights. j
259 (515). Pinicola enucleator leucura (Miiller). Pine grosbeak.
An irregular winter and spring visitant but never common. In
1890 it was reported by L. A. Fuertes on January 23. Since that
date it has been recorded as follows: 1904 on January 7, April 26
and 29 and May 5. In 1905, April 20. In 1906, March 5.
2600 (517). Carpodacus purpureus (Gmelin). Purple finch.
Common summer resident from March 22 to November 10. It
is occasionally seen in winter. It nests during May and June. The
latest date of nest and eggs is June 21, 1905.
261. Passer domesticus (Linneus). English sparrow.
Abundant.
262 (521). Loxia curvirostra minor (Brehm). Red crossbill.
An irregular visitant. Although commonly seen during March
and April they are frequently present during late spring and sum-
mer. In 1889 L. A. Fuertes reported them on June 16. In 1900
T. L. Hankinson saw a flock of 30 individuals on May 30 and again
on July 15. On August 7 of this year another flock was seen. In
1906 a flock of ten were seen on the Cornell Campus from June 21
to 24. In 1907 they were first seen on May 27 and continued com-
mon until June 24. In 1908 they were seen daily from June 10 to 16.
263 (522). Loxia leucoptera Gmelin. White-winged crossbill.
Rare winter visitant. During the winter of 1907 this species was
more common in the basin than in any year since records have been
kept.) Specimens were frequently taken and seen from January 5
to the first of March. ‘The last specimen recorded that year was one
killed at Taughannock Falls, March 4. November 15, 1882, a fe-
male was taken at Ithaca. L.A. Fuertes took a specimen at Ithaca,
February 8, 1906.
264 (528). Acanthis linaria (Linnzus). Redpoll.
An irregular winter visitant but usually common when present.
There are no records of their occurrence before January in any year.
436 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
There is a specimen of a female in the collection of Cornell Univer-
sity taken at Ithaca in January, 1876, showing that they were present
that winter but no notes to indicate whether or not they were com-
mon. On January 10, 1879, a male was killed by R. B. Hough.
They were reported by E. H. Eaton as common that winter in Cay-
uga Co. In 1904 they were common all through January, February
and March on the twenty-ninth of which L. A. Fuertes shot a speci-
men from a large flock. In 1907 they were common from January
13 to March 24. In 1909 the first individuals appeared January 5
and were common everywhere in the southern portion of the basin
until February 1.
205 (529). Astragalinus tristis (Linnzus). Goldfinch.
Permanent resident although more or less irregular in winter.
They become common in the spring from the tenth to the fifteenth
of April. The breeding plumage begins to show about April 20 and
is complete about the middle of May at which time the males are in
full song. Nests and eggs are commonly found during July.
206 (533). Spinus pinus (Wilson). Pine siskin.
An uncommon winter and a common spring visitant from the last
of April to the middle of May. The latest spring record is May
30, 1907. ‘The earliest winter record is a specimen taken January 20,
1890.
207 (534). Plectrophenax nivalis (Linnzus). Snow bunting.
Common winter resident being most common from January to
March. In the fall they arrive the last week in October and remain
until the middle of March. The latest date is March 26, 1890.
268 (536). Calcarius lapponicus (Linneus). Lapland longspur.
Rare. Mr. Fred Allen took a specimen near Auburn during the
winter of 1876 and Mr. Charles Lyon took a male near Auburn,
March 3, 1899.
269 (540). Pocecetes gramineus (Gmelin). Vesper sparrow.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival is
March 28, the earliest, March 23, 1903. The active breeding period
is May and June. The earliest record of nest and eggs is April 25,
1900, the latest, July 23, 1900. This species remains in the fall until
the last of October. The latest fall record is November 27, 1908.
1909.] (/0THE. CAYUGA LAKE BASIN: Ni ¥. 437
270 (542a). Passerculus sandwichensis savanna (Wilson:). Sav-
annah sparrow.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is April 6, the earliest, March 23, 1905. About July 25 this species
begins to collect in flocks which become numerous the first of Octo-
ber. All have left usually by the middle of the month.
271 (540). Ammodramus savannarum australis Maynard. Grass-
hopper sparrow.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival is
May 2, the earliest, April 26, 1905.
272 (548). Passerherbulus lecontei (Audubon). Leconte’s sparrow.
One specimen was shot in the Renwick marshes by L. A. Fuertes,
October 11, 1897.
273, (549.1). Passerherbulus nelsoni (Allen). Nelson’s sparrow.
The numerous specimens taken since 1900 justify the conclu-
sion that this species is a common visitant during the fall migration
from the middle of September to the first of October. They have
always been found in the rushes close to the water where they
skulk and run in a fashion very suggestive of a mouse. When
flushed they rise for a moment and disappear again much as a wren.
274 (549.1a). Passerherbulus nelsoni subvirgatus (Dwight). Aca-
dian sharp-tailed sparrow.
Uncommon but regular fall visitant. It arrives the very last of
September or first of October, about a week later than the Nelson’s
sparrow and remains for a period of from 12 to 15 days. Neither
this nor the preceding species has ever been taken in the spring.
The definite records are skins, which are now in the collection of L.
A. Fuertes and that of Corne]l University, taken between September
26 and October 12.
275 (554). Zonotrichia leucophrys (Forster). White-crowned
sparrow.
Common transient. The average date of spring arrival is May
4, the earliest, May 2, 1907. It remains until May 20 becoming com-
mon from the tenth to the fifteenth of the month. It is common in
the fall during the very last of September and the first half of Octo-
438 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
ber. The latest record is October 28, 1908. A single individual
was seen in the marshes at Ithaca, February 24, 1906.
276 (558). Zonotrichia albicollis (Gmelin). White-throated spar-
row.
Common transient. The average date of spring arrival is April
17, the earliest, April 13, 1903. They become common the last week
of April and remain until May 20. The latest record is May 23,
1908. In the fall they appear about September 20 and are common
throughout October. The latest record for the fall is November
4, 1908.
277 (559). Spizella monticola (Gmelin). Tree sparrow.
Common winter resident. They arrive October 1 and remain
common until April 25. <A few stragglers have been noted after this
date. In 1889 L. A. Fuertes saw several on May 8. In 1904 a few
were seen on May 2 and in 1906 the latest date was April 30.
278 (5600). Spizella passerina (Bechstein). Chipping sparrow.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is April 2, the earliest March 27, 1907. The maximum nesting
period is from May 15 to June 30. They remain in the fall until the
last week in October. The latest record is November 1, 1902.
279 (563). Spizella pusilla (Wilson). Field sparrow.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is March 30, the earliest, March 25, 1907. The nesting period ex-
tends from May 15 to June 5. They remain in the fall until the
very last of October.
280 (567). Junco hyemalis (Linnzus). Slate-colored junco.
A common transient, uncommon winter resident and a rare sum-
mer resident. They become commonsin the fall the last week in
September and are abundant during October. In the spring the first
influx from the south occurs the last week in March. They remain
abundant throughout April. The first of May there is a decided
reduction in numbers and by May to the migration ceases. On
June 21, 1878, F. H. King?* found two individuals in the Enfield
gorge. In 1907, each day from July 21 to 25, two individuals were
Bull, Nutt. Orn. Club, Vol. III., p. 195.
1909.] DEY CAYUGA EAKE (BASIN, | NaN 439
seen in the same locality. A. A. Allen and J. T. Lloyd found two
adults and three young just leaving the nest, June 19, 1908, at the
source of Cascadilla Creek.
281 (581). Melospiza melodia (Wilson). Song sparrow.
Common summer resident and not uncommon in the marshes dur-
ing winter. Migrants from the south begin to arrive about March
10. For the remainder of the month this species is abundant. The
nesting season extends from May I to July 22. A few nests have
been found the last of April.
282 (583). Melospiza lincolni (Audubon). Lincoln’s sparrow.
An uncommon but regular transient. It arrives the very last of
April, the twenty-seventh being the earliest date. It is met with
occasionally until May 15. It appears in the fall the last of Septem-
ber or first of October.
283 (584). Melospiza georgiana (Latham). Swamp sparrow.
Common summer resident. It is occasionally taken in the marshes
in winter. The average date of spring arrival is April 12, the ear-
liest, March 29, 1904. During the second week in October there is
a decided reduction in numbers and all have left before the last of the
month.
284 (585). Passerella iliaca (Merrem). Fox sparrow.
Common transient. The average date of spring arrival is April
15, the earliest, March 17, 1908. They are very rarely found after
April 15, the latest being May 8, 1908. In the fall they appear the
first week in October and are found until the first week in November.
The latest date is November 15, 1908.
285 (587). Pipilo erythrophthalmus (Linnzus). Towhee.
Common transient and an uncommon but regular summer resi-
dent. The average date of spring arrival is April 23, the earliest,
April 18, 1905. It is found nesting in a few localities, at the south
end of the basin, from May 25 through the larger part of June.
Young on the wing have been seen June 19. They remain in the
fall until October 20.
440 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
286 (595). Zamelodia ludoviciana (Linnzus). Rose-breasted gros-
beak.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 6, the earliest, April 30, 1900. Eggs have been found from
May 16to Juneg. They remain in the fall until the last of Septem-
ber. The latest date is October 1, 1908.
287 (598). Passerina cyanea (Linneus). Indigo bunting.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 14, the earliest, May 6, 1902. Eggs have been found from
June 7 to July 15. Usually the middle of September marks the limit
of their stay in this basin although a few have been seen after that
date. October 1, 1908, is the latest date.
288 (604). Spiza americana (Gmelin). Dickcissel.
This species nested in the town of Jamaica, Seneca Co., in 1875.
One of the specimens taken at that time is now in the collection of
EK. H. Eaton.
70. Family TaANacRip&. The Tanagers.
289 (608). Piranga erythromelas Vieillot. Scarlet tanager.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 8, the earliest, May 6, 1906. Nesting begins the last week in
May and continues through the first half of June. A few nests with
eggs have been found in the latter part of June and one as late as
July 9 (1906). This species has steadily increased in numbers since
1899. It remains in the fall until the middle of September, the 21st
of this month constituting the latest record.
71. Family Hirunpinip&. The Swallows.
290 (611). Progne subis (Linnzus). Purple martin.
Rare although formerly very common. Two were seen at Ithaca
April 26 and 27, 1905. One was seen at Taughannock Falls, June
3, 1906. It is still found in small numbers in the northern portion
of the basin.
291 (612). Petrochelidon lunifrons (Say). Cliff swallow.
Formerly a common summer resident but rapidly decreasing in
numbers. The average date of spring arrival is April 25, the ear-
1909.] Dre CAYUGA EAKE BASIN, Ne Y. 441
liest, April 20, 1900 and 1905. It nests through June and departs the
very last of August.
292 (613). Hirundo erythrogaster Boddaert. Barn swallow.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is April 19, the earliest, April 13, 1905. This species along with
individuals of the preceding begin to collect in large flocks in the
marshes about July 15. The latest fall record is September 26,
1908.
293 (614). Iridoprocne bicolor (Vieillot). Tree swallow.
Common summer resident and abundant during migration. The
average date of spring arrival is April 2, the earliest, March 23, 1907.
Nests with eggs have been found from May 8 to June 15. It be-
comes abundant the last of September, suddenly disappearing about
October 15. In 1906 large flocks were common until October 13.
In 1907 numerous flocks were seen until October 12.
294 (616). Riparia riparia (Linnzus). Bank swallow.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is April 25, the earliest, April 14, 1906. Nesting begins May Io and
lasts until June 15. The nests are found usually in gravelly or sandy
banks. The larger proportion of individuals leave during the first
week in September. Our latest record is September 26, 1908.
295 (617). Stelgidopteryx serripennis (Audubon). Rough-winged
swallow.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival is
April 26, the earliest, April 22, 1906. Nests and eggs have been
found from May to to June 10. This species is not so partial to
sand and gravel banks as the preceding. They are often found nest-
ing in shale banks along the lake shore, in the crevices of rocks in the
gorges and in banks of loose earth. Frequently we find them nest-
ing in isolated pairs and always the colonies are smaller than those
of the Bank Swallow. As a rule all have left by September 1o.
The latest date is a specimen taken September 26, 1908.
72. Family BompyciLtipz. The Waxwings.
296 (619). Bombycilla cedrorum Vieillot. Cedar waxwing.
Common summer resident and frequently seen in small flocks
PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC,, XLVIII. 193 DD, PRINTED JANUARY 8, IgIO.
442 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
during winter. They are more or less irregular at all seasons ex-
cept mid-summer. Nests with eggs have been found from June 15
to August 8.
73. Family Lantip&. The Shrikes.
297 (621). Lanius borealis Vieillot. Northern shrike.
Occasional winter visitant, most often seen in January and Feb-
ruary. The earliest record of this species in the fall is November
8, 1875, and November 25, 1908. The latest spring record is Feb-
ruary 24, 1905.
298 (622e). Lanius ludovicianus migrans W. Palmer. Northern
loggerhead shrike.
An uncommon but regular spring migrant. The average date of
arrival is March 24, the earliest, March 17, 1907. The latest date
upon which it has been seen is May 24, 1904. ‘A nest with six eggs
was found at Ithaca in May, 1877, by A. R. Ingersoll” (C. J. Pen-
nock).
74. Family VirEOoNIDz. ‘The Vireos.
299 (624). Vireosylva olivacea (Linnzus). Red-eyed vireo.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is May 5, the earliest, April 30, 1906. The nesting season extends
from May 30 to July 1. It remains in the fall until the last week
in September.
300 (626). Vireosylva philadelphica Cassin. Philadelphia vireo.
Rare. Three specimens have been taken within the basin as
follows: a male May 16, 1906, and a female September 21, 1907,
both in the collection of L. A. Fuertes, and a specimen, taken Octo-
ber 1, 1908, in the collection of Cornell University.
301 (627). Vireosylva gilva (Vieillot). Warbling vireo.
Common summer resident. The average date of arrival in spring
is May 2, the earliest, April 27, 1908. Nests with eggs are found
from May 12 to June 10. It departs in the fall about the middle of
September. An individual seen on September 19, 1908, is the latest
record.
302 (628). Lanivireo flavifrons (Vieillot). Yellow-throated vireo.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
1909.] They CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, INE Ye 443
is May 3, the earliest, April 30, 1905 and 1906. Nesting begins
May 20 and lasts until June 15. This species is seldom seen after
the first week in September. L. A. Fuertes shot a specimen Septem-
ber 26, 1889.
303 (629). Lanivireo solitarius (Wilson). Blue-headed vireo.
Common transient and a rare summer resident. The average
date of arrival is May 4, the earliest, April 25, 1906. It is not com-
mon after May 15 but a few have been seen between this date and
May 28. In 1893 L. A. Fuertes found a pair breeding in the Casca-
dilla Woods near Ithaca. In the fall it is found throughout Septem-
ber. The latest fall date is October 6, 1907.
75. Family MniotTittip@. The Wood Warblers.
304 (635). Mniotilta varia (Linneus). Black and white warbler.
Common transient and occasionally found breeding. The aver-
age date of spring arrival is April 30, the earliest, April 26, 1905.
The bulk of migrants have passed by May 18. On June 13, 1902,
T. L. Hankinson found a nest containing five young at North Spen-
cer, about a mile outside the lake basin on the south. June 19, 1908
A. A. Allen found young just taking wing near the source of Casca-
dilla Creek. L. A. Fuertes reports it as breeding on Snyder Hill.
Migrants are common in the fall from July 13 to September 1.
304a (639). Helmitheros vermivorus (Gmelin). Worm-eating
warbler.
The only record of this species in the basin is an adult male taken
by A. A. Allen, May 6, 1909, at Ithaca.
305 (642). Vermivora chrysoptera (Linneus). Golden-winged
warbler.
Mr. F. S. Wright, of Auburn, has taken specimens at the north
end of the basin as follows: June 6, 1883, an adult male on How-
land Island; May 13, 1898, an adult male at Sennett, N. Y.; May,
25, 1901, an adult male on Howland Island; May 5, 1902, an adult
male on Howland Island. Two other specimens have been taken in
that vicinity but we do not have the data.
444 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
306 (645). Vermivora rubricapilla (Wilson). Nashville warbler.
Common transient. A few breed on South Hill near Ithaca.
The average date of spring arrival is May 3, the earliest April 28,
1908. The migration is over by May 20. On May 27, 1905, a nest
with five eggs was found on South Hill and on June 6, 1906, in the
same locality a nest containing five young. The latest fall date is
September 19, 1908, when it was still common.
307 (646). Vermivora celata (Say). Orange-crowned warbler.
Rare. An adult male was taken May 17, 1900, near Auburn by
Charles Lyon. On October 6, 1907, a specimen was taken at Ithaca
by L. A. Fuertes. There are two specimens in the collection of
Cornell University taken at Ithaca, one October 6, 1907, the other,
October 12 of the same year. On May 11, 1909, Mr. A. A. Allen
killed an adult male at Ithaca and on May 12 saw four more.
308 (647). Vermivora peregrina (Wilson). Tennessee warbler.
Common transient. The average date of spring arrival is May
15, the earliest, May 10, 1908. It is not found after May 30.
309 (648a). Compsothlypis americana usnez Brewster. Northern
parula warbler.
Common transient. The average date of arrival in spring is May
6, the earliest, April 30, 1905. It has been found breeding on the
Cornell University Campus and on South Hill. The latest fall date
is October I, 1900.
310 (650). Dendroica tigrina (Gmelin). Cape May warbler.
Common transient. The average date of arrival in spring 1s
May 13, the earliest, May 10, 1899. The migration of this species
lasts for a few days only. None have been noted later than May
20 but very frequently are common up to this date.
air (652). Dendroica estiva (Gmelin. Yellow warbler.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is April 28, the earliest, April 25, 1908. It nests from May 13 to
June 1. The latest date on which it has been noted in the fall is
September 21.
1909.] GE SCAYUGA LAKE -BASIN, Wi Y: 445
312 (654). Dendroica caerulescens (Gmelin). Black-throated blue
warbler.
Common transient. It breeds regularly in small numbers on
South and Snyder hills. The average date of spring arrival is May
3, the earliest, April 29, 1905. Nesting continues through June and
the first half of July. The latest record in this connection is a nest,
found on August 11, which the young were just leaving. This spe-
cies is found in the fall until the middle of October.
313 (655). Dendroica coronata (Linnzeus). Myrtle warbler.
Common transient. The average date of arrival in spring is
April 22, the earliest, April 14, 1904. The migration of this species
ceases usually about May 15. After this date only a straggler is
seen. The latest record is May 21, 1904. The fall migration be-
gins the middle of September, becoming common about the first of
October. From the middle of this month they gradually diminish in
numbers finally disappearing about October 20. The latest fall
record is October 28, 1908.
314 (657). Dendroica magnolia (Wilson). Magnolia warbler.
Common transient. A few breed regularly in the southern por-
tion of the basin. The average date of spring arrival is May 6, the
earliest, April 27, 1902. Migrants remain in the basin as late as May
30. On July 8, 1906, A. A. Allen found, on South Hill, a nest con-
taining eggs. The young left this nest on July 14. In the vicinity
of South Hill this species has been seen on the following dates: 1905,
June 4; 1906, June 7, July 30, August 1; 1907, July 22, two imma-
ture birds. On May 30, 1909, a nest containing two eggs was found
on the hills near Michigan Hollow in the southern portion of the
basin.
315 (658). Dendroica caerulea (Wilson). Cerulean warbler.
Uncommon but regular transient. It breeds on Howland Island
at the north end of the lake. The average date of spring arrival
is May 10, the earliest, May 2, 1902.
316 (659). Dendroica pennsylvanica (Linnzus). Chestnut-sided
warbler.
Common transient and not uncommon summer resident. The
average date of arrival is May 18, the earliest, May 3, 1905. Nests
446 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
with eggs have been found on South Hill from May 25 to June 20.
On July 8, 1906, a nest of young were just taking wing. The latest
fall record is September 19, 1908.
317 (660). Dendroica castanea (Wilson). Bay-breasted warbler.
Common transient. The average date of arrival is May 11, the
earliest, May 7, 1905. The bulk of migrants have passed before
May 25. The latest record is May 30, 1907. “I have found it
breeding in the immediate vicinity of Cayuga Lake”’’ (Audubon).”®
318 (661). Dendroica striata (Forster). Black-poll warbler.
Common transient. The average date of spring arrival is May
16, the earliest, May 10, 1905. It is common from its arrival to
May 30. A few are seen always during the first week of June,
the latest record being June 9, 1907. In the fall it is present from
September 10 to October 20 and is most common from September
25 to October Io.
319 (662). Dendroica fusca (P. L. S. Muller). Blackburnian
warbler.
Common transient and regular but uncommon summer resident.
The average date of arrival is May 4, the earliest, April 30, 1908,
and May 1, 1900, 1905 and 1906. The migration ceases about
May 20. On June 13, 1900, L. A. Fuertes first found them breed-
ing on Snyder Hill. Since that date they have been found to breed
regularly there and on South Hill.
320 (667). Dendroica virens (Gmelin). Black-throated green
warbler.
Abundant transient and common summer resident. The average
date of arrival is May 2, the earliest, April 25, 1908. Eggs have
been found from June 5 to July 8. It is abundant all through Sep-
tember and disappears the first week in October. The latest, date
is October 7.
321 (671). Dendroica vigorsi (Audubon). Pine warbler.
Common transient and common locally during the summer. The
average date of arrival is April 14, the earliest, April 2, 1905. No
nests of this species have been found but it is common in growths
of pine during May, June, July and a part of August.
* “ Ornithological Biography,” Vol. I., p. 447, 1831.
1909.] SHE CAYUGA LEAKE» BASING: Now ¥. 447
322 (672). Dendroica palmarum (Gmelin). Palm warbler.
Not a common but a regular transient. The average date of
arrival is May 2, the earliest, April 27, 1908. The latest record for
spring is May 21, 1908.
323 (672a). Dendroica palmarum hypochrysea Ridgway. Yellow
palm warbler.
One specimen, taken October 25, 1908, at Danby.
324 (674). Seiurus aurocapillus (Linnzeus). Oven-bird.
Common summer resident. The average date of arrival is May 3,
the earliest, April 27, 1908. Nests with eggs are found from May
25 to June 20. The bulk of individuals have left for the south by
September 15. The latest fall date is October 1, 1908.
325 (675). Seiurus noveboracensis (Gmelin). Water-thrush.
Common transient and breeds in small numbers. The average
date of spring arrival is April 30, the earliest, April 27, 1908. They
cease to be common about May 5. They breed in small numbers
at the base of West Hill and in a small marsh on East Hill near
Ithaca. In the fall they become common the first week in August
and remain until October 1.
326 (676). Seiurus motacilla (Vieillot). Lousiana water-thrush.
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is April 16, the earliest, April 14, 1906. Nests with eggs are found
from May 7 to June 3. On June 13, 1906, L. A. Fuertes found
four young just leaving the nest.
327 (678). Oporornis agilis (Wilson). Connecticut warbler.
Common transient in the fall from September 7 to 30. Not
present in the spring.
328 (679). Oporornis philadelphia (Wilson). Mourning warbler.
Common transient and frequently found during summer. The
average date of arrival is May Io, the earliest, May 4, 1905. No
nests of this species have been found but males in full song are
seen every year in the woods of Renwick marsh through May,
June and July. On June 30, 1908, immature birds were seen in
the Renwick woods.
448 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
329 (681). Geothlypis trichas (Linnzus). Maryland yellow-throat.
Common summer resident. The average date of arrival is May
4, the earliest, April 30, 1905. Nests with eggs are found from May
25 to June 20. It ceases to be common in the fall about the first
of October. The latest date is October Io.
330 (683). Icteria virens (Linnzus). Yellow-breasted chat.
Fairly common summer resident. The average date of arrival
is May 12, the earliest, May 4, 1905. Nest-building begins about
May 25. Eggs are found throughout June. On June 26, 1902, L.
A. Fuertes found a pair just beginning to build. Formerly this
species was rare in the region about the south end of the lake but
has increased greatly during the past eight years.
331 (684). Wilsonia citrina (Boddaert). Hooded warbler.
Rare transient and summer resident at the north end of the lake.
It is found between May 8 and 20, but appears to be more common
from the tenth to the fifteenth of the month. Mr. G. C. Embody
reports a nest with young which he found near Auburn and Mr. F.
S. Wright reports one found four miles east of Auburn.
332 (685). Wilsonia pusilla (Wilson). Wilson’s warbler.
Common transient. The average date of arrival is May 11, the
earliest, May 10, 1900. It is common from its arrival until the
twentieth of the month. A few are sometimes seen after this date.
The latest date is one seen June 7, 1908.
333 (686). Wilsonia canadensis (Linnzus). Canadian warbler.
Common transient. It breeds in small numbers on the hills in
the southern portion of the basin. The average date of arrival is
May 8, the earliest, May 5, 1905. They continue common from
their arrival until May 30. They have been found breeding on
South Hill and Ellis Hollow from June 7 to 19. On the latter date
a nest of five young were found.
334 (687). Setophaga ruticilla (Linneus). Redstart.
Common summer resident. The average date of arrival is May
3, the earliest, April 29, 1905 and 1906. They nest from May Io
to June 15. A few are found nesting later than this date. On
July 11, 1906, a nest was found which contained eggs. This species
1909.] THENCAYUGA, LAKE BASIN, Nii. 449
departs the first of September. The latest date is September 10,
1890.
76. Family Moracittip#. The Wagtails.
335 (697). Anthus rubescens (Tunstall). Titlark.
Common transient from April 7 to May 15 and from September
20 to October 20.
77. Family Mimipa:. The Thrashers and Mockingbirds.
330 (704). Dumetella carolinensis (Linnzus). Catbird.
Common summer resident. The average date of arrival is May
5, the earliest, April 27, 1908. Breeding occurs through the last
half of May and whole of June. The majority of individuals have
left in the fall by September 30 but a few are seen always during
the first days of October. The latest date is October 8, 1908.
337 (705). Toxostoma rufum (Linnzus). Brown thrasher.
Common transient and an uncommon summer resident. The
average date of arrival is May 1, the earliest, April 27, 1908. The
migration lasts for about two weeks, ceasing as a rule about May 15.
A few breed regularly on South and Snyder Hills. The latest fall
date is October 6, 1900.
78. Family TrocLopytip#. The Wrens.
338 (718). Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham). Carolina wren.
Rare summer resident. On March 22, 1890, L. A. Fuertes found
a pair on the west shore of the lake about four miles north of Ithaca
where they bred that summer. It was not seen again until June 12,
1903, when a pair was found in Cascadilla gorge on the Cornell
campus where they remained until observations ceased about the
middle of August.
339 (721). Troglodytes aédon Vieillot. House wren.
Common summer resident. The average date of arrival is April
30, the earliest, April 26, 1905 and 1906. Eggs are found from
May 25 to July 10. They are much reduced in numbers by the
middle of September and all have left by the last of the month.
In the southern portion of the basin ,this species has increased
seventy-five percent in the last Io years.
450 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
340 (722). Nannus hiemalis (Vieillot). Winter wren.
Common transient and regular but not common winter resident.
Migrants arrive in the spring the very last of March or the first
of April and are common until May 1. The latest date is May 7,
1907. It is quite probable that a few breed in the colder gorges,
for on June 21, 1878, Mr. F. H. King*® found five individuals in
the Enfield Gorge just below the falls. One specimen was shot and
proved to be “a fully fledged young bird, but so immature as to
leave no doubt that it was one of a brood which had been reared
in the glen.” They make their appearance in the fall about Sep-
tember 25.
341 (724). Cistothorus stellaris (Lichtenstein). Short-billed marsh
wren.
One specimen, taken October 15, 1898, by T. L. Hankinson in
the Renwick marshes.
342 (725). Telmatodytes palustris (Wilson). Long-billed marsh
wren.
Common summer resident. The average date of arrival is May
2, the earliest, April 18, 1906. It has been recorded (seen) twice
in winter—1904 and 1905. Eggs are found from May 20 to June
15 and occasionally as late as the middle of July. It remains in
the fall until the last of October.
79. Family CertHip#. The Creepers.
343 (726). Cefthia familiaris americana (Bonaparte). Brown
creeper.
Common transient and winter resident. They become abundant
in the spring about March 20 and continue so throughout April.
All have left as a rule by May 10 at which time they are frequently
in full song. They arrive in the fall about September 15 and are
abundant from October 1 to 15.
80. Family Sirtip#. The Nuthatches.
344 (727). Sitta carolinensis Latham. White-bellied nuthatch.
Common permanent resident. Eggs are found from April 19
to May Io.
” Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, Vol. III., p. 195.
1909.] THE CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, N. iY. 451
345 (728). Sitta canadensis Linnzus. Red-breasted nuthatch.
Common transient and occasionally found in winter. The aver-
age date of spring arrival is May 5, the earliest, April 28, 1908.
None have been recorded later than May 30. On January 5, 1908,
a specimen was shot at Ithaca and January 31 another was seen.
A second specimen was taken at Ithaca, January 25, 1909. The first
migrants arrive from the north the very last of August, becoming
common the first two weeks in September. They remain until the
middle of November.
81. Family Partpa. The Chickadees.
345a (731). Baeolophus bicolor (Linneus). Tufted titmouse.
An adult male was taken May 30, 1909, at Michigan Hollow.
346 (735). Penthestes atricapillus (Linnzus). Chickadee.
Common permanent resident. Nests with eggs have been found
from April 29 to June 3. The earliest record of nest-building is
March 24, 1890.
82. Family Sytviip#. The Old World Warblers.
347 (748). Regulus satrapa Lichtenstein. Golden-crowned kinglet.
Common transient and an occasional winter resident. The aver-
age date of spring arrival is April 1, the earliest, March 13, 1903.
The average date of departure is May 7, the latest May 17, 1902.
Migrants arrive in the fall as early as September 8, but they do not
become common until the first of October. They remain until
November 10.
348 (746). Regulus calendula (Linnzeus). Ruby-crowned kinglet.
Common transient. The average date of arrival is April 19, the
earliest, April 12, 1907. The average date of departure is May
g, the latest, May 22, 1907. In the fall the first arrivals are noted
the last of September. They are common from October I to 15
and have disappeared by the twenty-fifth of the month.
83. Family Turpipa#. The Thrushes.
349 (755). Hylocichla mustelina (Gmelin). Wood thrush.
Common summer resident. The average date of arrival is May
452 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
8, the earliest, May 2, 1908. The breeding season lasts from May
25 to June 20. The latest fall date is November 6, 1908.
350 (756). Hylocichla fuscescens (Stephens). Veery.
Common summer resident. The average date of arrival is May
3, the earliest, April 24, 1908. Eggs have been found from May 19
to June 21, but the maximum breeding period is from the first to
the middle of June. The majority of individuals have left for
the south before September 20. The latest fall date is October
10; 1900:
351 (757). Hylocichla alicia (Baird). Gray-cheeked thrush.
Numerous specimens of this thrush have been taken in the basin
but they are not scattered enough and field observations are not
certain enough to justify limiting dates. We believe, however, that
it is not an uncommon transient.
352 (758a). Hylocichla ustulata swainsoni (Cabanis). Olive-
backed thrush.
Common transient. The average date of arrival is May 5, the
earliest, April 21, 1900. It is not common after May 25 but has
been seen as late as June 8. Migrants begin to arrive from the north
about September 5 and are common from September 20 to 30. The
latest fall date is October 21, 1908. Mr. L. A. Fuertes found a
pair breeding in the Fall Creek gorge in the summer of, 1890.
353 (7590). Hylocichla guttata pallasii (Cabanis). Hermit thrush.
Common transient. The average date of arrival is April 13, the
earliest, April 1, 1908. The migration ceases about May 20. It
breeds in small numbers on Snyder and Turkey Hills. It is com-
mon through October and usually departs before November 1. The
latest date is October sr, 1905.
354 (761). Planesticus migratorius (Linnzus). Robin.
Common summer resident and present regularly in small num-
bers in winter. The first migrants arrive about the middle of March
from which time this species is common until November 20. The
breeding period extends from the first of April to the middle
of July.
1909.] THE CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, i.Ne) Ye 453
355 (765a). Saxicola cenanthe leucorhoa (Gmelin). Wheatear.
A young female was taken in the town of Junius, Seneca Co.,
September 9, 1872, by C. J. Hampton. The specimen is now in the
collection of E. H. Eaton.
356 (766). Sialia sialis (Linnzus). Bluebird. ,
Common summer resident. The average date of spring arrival
is March 9, the earliest, February 24, 1906. It is abundant through
the larger part of October. Usually by the first of November all
have departed. Eggs are found from March 30 to June 1.
F. Class MAMMALIA.
XXXVIII. Order MARSUPIALIA. The Pouched Animals.
84. Family DipELpuipip®. The Opossums.
357. Didelphis virginiana Kerr. The Virginia opossum.
The opossum has been captured in the vicinity of Ithaca at
various times since 1860. F. C. Hill has mentioned*' the escape of
a female and twelve young from Dr. B. G. Wilder’s laboratory at
Ithaca about 1878. There are no museum records of this escape
and Dr. Wilder has no recollection of such. In the summer of
1896 seven individuals escaped from a cage in the Renwick Park
where they were on exhibition. During the following six or
seven years numerous specimens were captured about Ithaca, while
prior to that time none had been seen for a number of years. The
latest record is a male captured in the fall of 1903. Dr. Wilder’s
notes record specimens taken in 1860 and 1872 long before any
individuals were known to have escaped from captivity.
XXXIX. Order GLIRES. The Rodents.
85. Family Scrurip®. The Squirrels.
358. Sciurus hudsonicus loquax Bangs. Southern red squirrel.
This species is by far our most common diurnal mammal. It
is not confined to any particular habitat, being found alike in all
Hill, F. C., “The Opossum at Elmira, N. Y.,” Am. Nat., Vol. 16, 1882,
Pp. 403.
454 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
kinds of localities. There is but one record of a pure albino but
individuals with albinistic tendencies are not infrequent. The young
are born the last of March or the first of April.
359. Sciurus carolinensis leucotis (Gapper). Northern gray squirrel.
Fairly common, throughout the basin. It is believed by many
that this species is no longer found in the southern portion of the
basin. On Cornell Heights, along Fall Creek, along the Buttermilk
gorge, in the region of Enfield gorge and on the tops of all the hills
they are still common. The black phase is rarely seen although it is
stated that such individuals were relatively very common. Two
albinos have been taken at Danby.
360. Sciurus ludovicianus ludovicianus Bangs. Northeastern fox
squirrel (introduced).
In the spring of 1906 six pairs were brought from another local-
ity and liberated in a small grove of oaks on the Cornell Campus.
During the first two months after their liberation several were found
dead and brought to the laboratory. Each showed signs of bruises
underneath the skin and it was thought that boys and slingshots
were responsible. They had been reared in captivity and were
extremely tame. Mr. A. A. Allen who looked into this matter
informs us that they were very clumsy, probably due to confinement,
and died from injuries received in falling from the trees. One
individual which fell from a considerable height was dead before
the spot where he had fallen was reached. During the fall of 1906
a few of the survivors remained in the oaks on the campus where
they constructed large nests of leaves but apparently none success-
fully passed the winter. A few migrated to the woods along Casca-
dilla Creek where they did survive the winter of 1907-8 and one
pair at least reared young during the following spring.
361. Tamias striatus lysteri (Richardson). Northeastern chip-
munk.
Abundant, especially along the ravines, stone fences and in old
wood lots. It is not found in the marshy areas. It goes into winter
quarters during the latter part of November and remains until the
middle of March. The latest fall record is November 26, 1906.
The earliest it has been seen in spring is February 26, 1905. Mr.
1909.] THE CAYUGA’ LAKE BASIN: (No. Y; 455
A. A. Allen informs us that the young are brought forth a little
later probably than with the other squirrels, for on May 9, 1908,
a female was secured which showed signs of recent suckling.
362. Marmotta monax (Linnzus). Woodchuck.
Abundant throughout the basin in the more open and dry areas.
It goes into hibernation about the middle of November and is not
found abroad again until the first part of March, usually before the
first snows are melted. An adult male albino was taken during the
spring of 1876. On April 13, 1901, T. L. Hankinson shot a female
which contained three fetuses (one in the right and two in the left
horn of the uterus) 50 mm. in length.
363. Sciuropterus volans volans Bangs. Southern flying squirrel.
Common throughout the basin wherever suitable hollows for
nests or cover during the day are obtainable. The young are born
about the middle of April.
86. Family Muripa. The Rats and Mice.
304. Mus musculus Linnzus. House mouse.
Abundant in buildings, open fields and woods in the lowlands
about the head of the lake.
365. Mus norvegicus Erxleben. Norway rat.
Abundant. Found in the same abodes and areas as the preceding
species. During the winters of 1907-8 and 1908-9 there were three
instances of persons attacked while sleeping by individuals of this
species.
366. Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis (Fischer). Deer mouse.
Common throughout the basin. Breeding begins April 15 and
continues until August. Mr. A. A. Allen observes: “Three to five
young about once a month for five or six months of the year, serves
to preserve the species.”
307. Peromyscus maniculatus gracilis (Le Conte). Canadian
white-footed mouse.
This species is common on Turkey Hill and in Michigan Hollow.
It will undoubtedly be found on some of the other high hills when
search is made.
456 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF [October 1,
368. Fiber zibethicus (Linnzus). Muskrat.
Common along water courses and in the marshes.
369. Microtus pinetorum scalopsoides (Audubon and Bachman).
Northern pine mouse.
On September 18, 1898, T. L. Hankinson took a specimen in a
small evergreen woodland about two miles east of Ithaca. On
March 14, 1909, another specimen was taken by A. C. Chandler on
Snyder Hill.
370. Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord). Common eastern field mouse.
Common. It is found to be the most abundant rodent in the
moist lowlands.
371. Evotomys gapperi (Vigors). Eastern red-backed mouse.
Common in all the higher wooded regions, in the sphagnum bogs
near McLean and the marshy land in Michigan Hollow.
87. Family Diropip#. The Jumping Mice.
372. Zapus hudsonius (Zimmerman). Northern meadow jumping
mouse.
Common in the moist lowlands. It begins to hibernate in late
November and emerges about the middle of April.
372a. Napeozapus insignis Miller. Woodland jumping mouse.
One specimen (5207), a female, was taken in Michigan Hollow,
June 14, 1909, by Messrs. A. A. Allen, F. Harper and J. S. Gutsell.
88. Family Leportip%. The Hares.
373. Lepus americanus virginianus (Harlan). Southern varying
hare.
This species has disappeared from many localities in the basin.
It is still fairly common in the vicinity of Connecticut Hill, in the
hills near Danby and Caroline and the series of hills about Dryden.
The summer pelage begins to show in the latter part of March.
374. Sylvilagus floridanus mearnsi (Allen). Eastern prairie cotton-
tail.
Common in wooded, open, dry and marshy lands alike. All the
1909.] THEY CAYUGA) LAKE (BASIN, N.Y. 457
specimens taken in the basin have been identified by Dr. E. W. Nel-
son, of Washington, who writes:
There is remarkably wide variation in the skulls of this lot though the
specimens are externally so much alike. Ithaca is on the border line between
the ranges of two subspecies and while these specimens are intermediate in
some characters they are not very close to either subspecies (mearnsi and
mallurus).
XXXX. Order FER. The Flesh Eaters.
89. Family FELip#. The Cats.
375. Lynx canadensis Kerr. Canada lynx.
A female now in the collection of Cornell University (C. U.
4834) was killed north of Wilseyville N. Y., November 16, 1906.
Another was seen in the same locality a few days later. During
the latter part of October, 1908, another specimen was shot near Park
Station, about ten miles west of Spencer. It is now in the possession
of John C. Munson of Erin, N. Y.
90. Family Canip@. The Dogs.
376. Vulpes fulvus (Desmarest). Red fox.
Common and in some localities gradually increasing in numbers.
They are especially abundant in the vicinity of Newfield and Danby.
The young are born about the first of May.
gi. Family Mustetipaz. The Weasels.
377. Lutra canadensis (Schreber). Otter.
While formerly quite common it is probably no longer to be
found in the basin. The last specimen noted was an adult male
taken in the gorge at Enfield, April 27, 1894.
378. Putorius vison vison (Schreber). Southeastern mink.
Common in the swamps and alon@ water courses. They are still
a source of considerable returns to the trappers.
379. Putorius cicognanii (Bonaparte). Small brown weasel.
Common in woods, fields along fences and water courses.
380. Putorius noveboracensis Emmons. New York weasel.
Abundant. Found in woods, stone piles, brush piles, stump
fences and places of the like. The change from summer to winter
PROC, AMER, PHIL, SOC,, XLVIII, 193 EE, PRINTED FEBRUARY I2, I9Io.
458 REED-WRIGHT—THE VERTEBRATES OF _ [October 1,
coat is completed the last of November and by the first of May the
summer coat is again complete.
381. Mephitis putida Boitard. Southeastern skunk.
Abundant in all localities.
92. Family Procyonip@. The Raccoons.
382. Procyon lotor (Linnzus). Raccoon.
Common throughout the basin.
XXXXI. Order INSECTIVORA. The Insect Eaters.
93. Family Tatprp@. The Moles.
383. Condylura cristata (Linneus). Star-nosed mole.
Common in swampy and moist ground.
384. Scalops aquaticus (Linneus). Naked-tailed mole.
Two specimens were taken at Taughannock Falls in 1907.
385. Parascalops breweri (Bachman). Hiairy-tailed mole.
One specimen taken near North Spencer by T. L. Hankinson,
June 9, 1902.
94. Family Soricip@. The Shrews.
386. Blarina brevicauda (Say). Short-tailed shrew.
Abundant throughout the basin and taken at all times of year.
387. Sorex fumeus Miller. Smoky shrew.
Fairly common in the higher hills and upland marshes.
388. Sorex personatus Geoffory St. Hillaire. Long-tailed shrew.
It has been found only in the swamps near Danby and in Michi-
gan Hollow where it is common.
‘
9s. Family VESPERTILIONIDZ. The Ordinary Bats.
389. Lasiurus cinereus (Beauvois). Hoary bat.
From data collected during the past few years by Mr. A. A.
Allen it appears that this species visits the lake basin during the fall
migration only. Although diligent search has been made no speci-
mens have ever been taken except in the month of October. Data
1909.] THESCAVYUGA LAKE. BASIN, “Nj Y. 459
collected outside the basin indicate that its occurrence here is limited
to the fall.
390. Lasiurus borealis (Muller). Red bat.
One of the most abundant bats of the region. In the spring they
are not much in evidence until the middle of May and disappear the
last of October.
391. Lasionycteris noctivagans (Le Conte). Silvery-haired bat.
Common, especially in the gorges. It appears the first of May,
the migration reaching its height by the middle of the month.
392. Pipistrellus subflavus (F. Cuvier). Pipistrelle.
Common, especially in the gorges. It appears in the spring the
first of May along with the silvery-haired bat and is the last of all
our bats to disappear in the fall. Specimens have been taken as late
as November I.
393. Vespertilio fuscus Beauvois. Big brown bat.
Common. It is the first bat to appear in the spring. It may be
looked for the first of April a month before any of the others are
seen.
394. Myotis subulatus (Say). Say’s bat.
One specimen taken at Ithaca, July 2, 1904, by A. G. Hammar.
395. Myotis lucifugus (Le Conte). Little brown bat.
This is the most common bat of the region. They appear in the
spring the last of April.
FURTHER NOTES ON CEREMONIAL STONES,
AUSTRALIA
By R. H. MATHEWS.
(Read October I, 1909.)
During the latter part of 1908 I submitted an article on the
above subject, accompanied by diagrammatic drawings showing
front and side views of several specimens.t Since that time I have
obtained a photograph of a number of similar stones in the posses-
sion of Mr. A. G. Johnston, of Murtie Station, Darling River, New
South Wales. I have thought that the publication of this photo-
graph will add to the value of what has already been written and
encourage further investigation in this important subject.
In explanation of the photograph, Fig. 1, the specimens are con-
tained in a cabinet in which there are three shelves. I have ruled
lines across the face of the photograph corresponding to the bases
of these shelves, the picture being thus divided into three partitions,
marked A, B and C, for the purpose of explaining its contents.
Partition A, or the lower shelf, contains thirty-two ceremonial
stones, of various lengths and proportions, which the reader will
readily recognize from a perusal of the drawings in my former
article on the subject. The four large flat, ovate stones at the back
of the shelf, are lower millstones, used for grinding grass seed.
There are also three upper millstones, which are much smalier,
used for pounding and grinding the seed upon the larger lower
stone. The upper millstones, as well as four stone hatchets, are
not distinguishable without the aid of numerals. I have not thought
it advisable to number any of the objects, lest the picture should be
overcrowded and defaced. In the middle of the shelf, near the top,
is a boomerang.
Partition B, or the middle shelf, has fourteen more ceremonial
stones, four lower millstones, one upper millstone, four stone
* Proc. AMER. Puit. Soc., Vol. XLVIIL, p. 313.
460
1909.} MATHEWS—CEREMONIAL STONES, AUSTRALIA. 461
hatchets, a boomerang, a nulla-nulla, and a kopai ball like those
illustrated in my paper on “ Burial Customs.”
Partitition C, or the uppermost shelf, contains four more cere-
monial stones, two lower millstones, four stone hatchets, and a black-
Fic. 1. Ceremonial stones, nardoo stones, boomerangs and nullas.
fellow’s skull. It appears therefore, that the cabinet, with its three
shelves, contains a total of fifty ceremonial stones, without counting
the other specimens. Owing to the great number of articles com-
prised in Fig. 1, everything appears proportionately small. To
remedy this, several representative specimens of ceremonial stones
have been taken out of the cabinet and a separate picture, Fig. 2,
photographed on a larger scale. Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 are reddish
462 MATHEWS—CEREMONIAL STONES, AUSTRALIA, [October 1,
tinted sandstone, all of them being more or less profusely orna-
mented with incisions. Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 9 are gray sandstone.
;
4
4
Fic. 2. Ceremonial stones. Nos. I, 2, 3, and 4 are of red sandstone,
all much marked. Nos. 8 and 10 are of slate. No. 8, is 19 inches long. The
rest are of gray sandstone.
Nos. 8 and 10 are clay slate—the former being nineteen inches
long. The three small articles on the floor of the picture are stone
hatchets, and are without numbers.
The two plates now submitted, if studied in connection with the
comprehensive diagrammatic drawings given in my former article,
will enable the reader to form a very clear conception of what these
remarkable stones look like.
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AND OBITUARY NOTICES OF
MEMBERS DECEASED
ae arr’ a,
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Typ sit ONhing fy 5 teopold Lseph Vamenty
f Tieinling /y ; Mood ‘ Sods Olde
COMMEMORATION
OF THE
CENTENARY OF CHARLES DARWIN’S: BIRTH
(FEBRUARY 12, 1809)
AND THE
PIPTEENDH ANNIVERSARY OF THE’ PUBLICATION
OF THE
* ORIGIN: OF: SPECIES”
(NovEMBER 24, 1859)
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF CHARLES DARWIN
AND. OF THE RECEPTION .OF THE
“ORIGIN: OF. SPECIES.”
By His ExcetteNcy, THE RicHt Honoraste JAMES BRYCE.
(Read April 23, 1909.)
I count it a great honor to be invited to attend this meeting of
the Society on this celebration of a very great man, who is one of the
glories of our common race, and whom it is fitting that all members
—not only the members of that common race, but all who belong
to the great republic of science and letters, should join in com-
memorating. There is nothing more inspiriting to those who are
citizens of that republic than the thought that one belongs to a uni-
versal company, embracing not only all nations and tongues, but all
ages and countries, which is engaged in the same common pursuit
of endeavoring to discover truth and to advance the bounds of
knowledge. I feel it a particular honor to be asked to join to-night
in celebrating one of the brightest luminaries of modern science, of
whom we English are proud, and on no occasion has the function
of representing my country in your country been more prized by me
than when it gives me the opportunity of coming here to join in this
celebration as representing, however unworthily, British men of
letters and the oldest of British scientific societies.
aw
iw THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
Ladies and gentlemen, a few words may be said upon some of
the general aspects of this subject, which will be dealt with more
completely by the third of the speakers who is to address you
to-night.
When I was first invited to attend the meeting I was asked to
say something regarding the influence of the Darwinian theory, and
in particular to what is called the Doctrine of Evolution upon his-
tory and the political and economic sciences. I felt obliged to
decline so great a task as that, partly because it required a wider
knowledge than I possess, and partly also because I have never been
able to feel sure that the influence—that is to say, the direct influence
—of the doctrines contained in Mr. Darwin’s writings upon the his-
torical and political sciences is so great as has sometimes been sup-
posed. Upon this subject my mind is quite open, and I shall be
very glad to be convinced by the third of the speakers, that it is
greater than I have been hitherto led to believe, but it seems proper
to say a few words to you on the subject in order to state the views
which some at least of the students of history hold and to invite an
answer to them from the subsequent speakers.
Now, there is no doubt at all about this, that great changes have
passed within the last two generations upon the study of historical,
political and economic science. That, I suppose, we are all agreed
upon. They are studied more scientifically; that is to say, they
are studied with more exactitude and more precision than formerly.
But it may be doubted whether this change in the method of study-
ing historical and economic science is due to the influence of the
physical sciences. If you examine the matter chronologically, it
will appear that instead of being due to the recent growth of those
sciences, it is due to causes which produced the rapid contempo-
raneous advance of the sciences of nature as well as the progress of
historical and economic science. In other words, the more exact
character of the human sciences has had an independent origin and
source.
Let me say in passing that the influence upon history of some
writers, who have dealt both with natural science and with history
and tried to handle both subjects together, attempting a sort of
synthesis, appears to me to have been greatly exaggerated. It is,
1909.] BRYCE—REMINISCENCES OF CHARLES DARWIN. v
to say the least of it, very doubtful whether Auguste Comte, for
whom so much is claimed by his disciples, really made any sub-
stantial addition to historical science. There is little, if any, ground
for thinking—I have certainly never seen any evidence to show—
that either Mr. Herbert Spencer or Mr. Buckle has brought any
contribution of substantial value to either historical and political or
to economic science. Indeed, as regards these two last named
writers, most historians would say that it is hardly possible that
they could have made any contribution to the knowledge of history
as a science, because when they came to the details of history, they
showed themselves quite uncritical—they were not accustomed to
weigh evidence, or to test it by historical standards, and the general
ideas which they put forward are old ideas, which were perfectly
familiar to competent historians before either of them touched the
pen. The case, however, with regard to the great thinkers in the
field of natural history, and particularly as regards Charles Darwin,
is a different case. We all admit and gratefully recognize the im-
mense general intellectual stimulus which the writings of Mr. Dar-
win gave to everybody who was working in any field of enquiry by
scientific methods. He stimulated all serious students, whatever
their subject was, because his researches opened up fields new to
many historians, and he pursued his enquiries—I will not sav by
new methods, but with a greater perfection and finish of method
and with a more suggestive fertility of mind than perhaps had been
done before. His books were read and pondered on by not a few
men of letters, who had previously known very little of science. In
that way, therefore, the effect of Darwin’s writings was very great
indeed. Moreover, he gave an example of careful and patient ob-
servation, of scrupulous detachment, of exquisite candor and fair-
ness of mind in the process of investigation, which told very greatly
on everyone who followed his researches and reflected on his con-
clusions.
Coming particularly to what is called the doctrine of Evolution,
let it be at once admitted that in the branch of history that belongs
to primitive man, that considers the growth of our race in its very
earliest stages, and the development of his moral ideas and social
habits, some of Mr. Darwin’s suggestions were striking and illumina-
vt THE DARWIN -:CENTENARY. [April 23,
tive. But the specific doctrine of evolution, as applied to history, is
not a new thing. In history it is a very old thing. All thoughtful
and penetrating historians have always seen and recognized that
there was constant progress and growth in human affairs, not
necessarily permanent and perpetual progress, but at any rate
change. They have recognized that there has been a process of flux
and a ceaseless development always going on through human society.
The process of change in ideas takes place by the action of what may
be called the critical spirit—that is to say, the meaning and the
effect, the scope and the limitations of all our ideas and all our con-
ceptions are constantly being played upon by an analytic and specu-
lative mind. The whole mind of the community—that is to say, all
the thinking part of the community—is incessantly dealing with the
conceptions and ideas which it has received from its predecessors,
and these are thus being always imperceptibly altered under the
influence of this examination and of the speculation which accom-
panies it, so that each succeeding generation hands on to the next
something different from what it had received. That is what
“evolution” substantially means in the sphere of philosophical
thought, and that has long been practically recognized and under-
stood. The process has in it something which is analogous to the
process by which change and differentiation go on in the animal and
vegetable kingdoms. But it is not the same thing, and instead of
requiring the long and careful observation which modern naturalists
have applied to determine how it goes on in the animal and vegetable
kingdoms, it was a thing that was in a certain sense so obvious that
great historians have perceived it from comparatively early times.
For instance, the development of the civilized races of mankind out
of a very low and brutish state had been recognized as far back as
the philosophers of Greece. You remember the familiar lines of
Horace
Cum prorepserunt primis animalia terris
Mutum et turpe pecus.
And in the sphere of institutions, historians and political thinkers
have always recognized that man is largely the creation of the
conditions that surround him, and is profoundly influenced by them.
They have always seen that institutions grow through being de-
1909.] BRYCE—REMINISCENCES OF CHARLES DARWIN. vit
veloped by the gradual and constant process of experiment suc-
ceeding experiment, and reaction followed by reaction. Institu-
tions are the result of many efforts after improvement made some-
times consciously and sometimes unconsciously. If an experiment
succeeds, it is developed further. If it fails, it is dropped and
another takes its place. If you look at the Roman Constitution, or
at the English Constitution, you will see that either in its mature
form represents a regular process of development bya constant series
of small changes. That is in the historical sphere, what we mean
by evolution. So it has always been known that the stronger races
survive and weaker races perish; that efficient institutions—that is
to say, such as are fitted to stand the strain of strife—maintain
themselves in the struggle for life, while other and weaker insti-
tutions, which do not so well hold men together, and give strength
and vigor and vitality to the body politic, disappear. This is one of
the lessons of history, and a lesson which men could not but begin
to read pretty early. Accordingly the doctrine of evolution in that
sense was a doctrine long ago understood, if not always fully
and explicitly set forth by historians, and the scientific spirit in
historical science seems to be not the daughter of the same spirit
in natural science, but the sister, beginning to show itself about the
same time. You can fix that roughly at not less than one hundred
and fifty years ago, in the first half of the eighteenth century. In
the end of the seventeenth century when the Royal Society was
founded and more markedly in the eighteenth century the world
began to have a critical and analytical spirit, and it spread in all
directions and to all subjects. This spirit was already alive and
working among the votaries of the historical and modern sciences.
It was known to Bentley. Such a book as Wolf’s “ Prolegomena ”
to the Iliad is a remarkable example of it. It had begun to be applied
to the early Hebrew writings. One finds it in Adam Smith and in
Gibbon. Niebuhr was not the first to be inspired by it in dealing
with Roman history. This was happening at the very same time,
when it was at work in such sciences as physics, chemistry and
geology in the days of Black and of Priestley and of Lavoisier
and of Hutton, and, let us never forget, when it was exemplified
vit THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
and applied by the illustrious founder of this Society, Benjamin
Franklin.
From this comparison of the growth of this scientific spirit in
these two branches, the human sciences, and the sciences of observa-
tion in the natural world, such as physics and chemistry and natural
history, let us return to note the great effect which during the last
eighty years the growth and rapid advance of natural science in all
its branches has exerted upon the students of historical and political
sciences. To-day natural science, to a degree which was never
known before, has come to permeate the atmosphere that we breathe.
It is impossible for anyone who has any tincture of letters or knowl-
edge not to feel that he is moving about in a world permeated by
ideas and methods of natural science to the extent that was never
known at an earlier period of history. This has, of course, told upon
the students of historical and political science. It has made them
endeavor to emulate that attention to the smallest details, that
accuracy in observing and recording, which the votaries of natural
science bring to their work. We are all debtors to the men of
science for helping to impress these things upon us and for giving
us the highest standard of diligence, of patience, of care, of the
removal of all personal emotion and feeling from the quest of truth.
In this way there can be no doubt at all that the natural sciences have
had a potent influence upon the growth of the sister sciences which
deal with human affairs. It would indeed be a good thing if every-
one who studied history and those other sciences were to acquire
some knowledge—at least an elementary knowledge, and elementary
knowledge need not be a superficial knowledge—of the methods of
some one of the natural sciences, because it would tend to raise his
conception of what the exactitude and finish of scientific method
may be, and improve him in applying it to his own line of research.
Every serious student, whatever his special subject, must be grate-
ful to Charles Darwin for the light he cast on the field of natural
knowledge. He enlarged our conception of the reign of law through
the whole realm of animate nature, and he also presented in his own
person a shining ensample of the mental and moral qualities and
habits which every man ought to bring with him into the search for
truth. In these respects we who follow the study of history honor
1909.] BRYCE—REMINISCENCES OF CHARLES DARWIN. ix
him, a little further off than you votaries of the natural sciences do,
but not less sincerely and not less reverentially.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, I am asked to say a few words to
you about the effect which was produced by Mr. Darwin’s writings
when they first appeared in England. I am, unfortunately, old
enough to be able to remember that time: and one of the few com-
pensations that one finds in advancing years is the opportunity to
call upon for the benefit of friends recollections which are still fresh
of days now so far past that they are becoming matters of written
history. The effect of the “ Origin of Species” was extraordinary.
There has been no such effect before or since, in the way it stirred
men’s minds in England. I recollect that in or about the year 1853
the British Association for the Advancement of Science held its
annual meeting in Glasgow, and I was taken by my father, who was
himself a scientific man, to attend that meeting. I was only a boy of
fifteen, but he, very properly, thought that you cannot begin too soon
to endeavor to bring the youthful mind into contact with science and
men of science, and, accordingly, he took me to attend the meetings
of the Association. .I remember that at an evening meeting there
was delivered a lecture, supposed to be of a comparatively popular
kind, intended to bring scientific conceptions to the minds of those
members of the association who were interested in science, but not
skilled scientific students. The lecture was upon Species, and it was
delivered by Dr. William B. Carpenter, who was a well-known and
much respected scientific writer in that time, careful and thoughtful,
though not a discoverer. The lecturer and the audience and
the impression come back to me as if it was yesterday. He
brought out with great fulness and clearness all the difficulties that
attach to every hypothesis about the origin of species. He stated
the old familiar doctrine of separate creation, and showed the ob-
jections to it. He threw out various conjectures upon the subject,
and explained the objections that attached to each one of the various
hypotheses advanced. And he left us as much in the dark as we
were before. This was startling to a youthful and ingenuous mind,
who had expected to be told what to think. We who were not in
the inner scientific circles said to ourselves “ Why in the world is this
lecture given to us, if we are, after all, to be left with no positive
x THE DARWIN .CENTENARY. [April 23,
conclusion which we may carry away? There must be some
problem more perplexing than we knew of.” But in meditating
upon the matter one perceived that the scientific world had been
slowly moving up to the threshold, and was pausing at the threshold,
of some great discovery. Some solution must be at hand, but
nobody knew—nobody at least, outside of a very small circle—how
near the solution was or what it was going to be. We left the
lecture room, excited, perplexed, recognizing difficulties that we had
never known of before, and wondering what the outcome was going
to be. Five or six years later the “ Origin of Species” appeared,
and the impression which it produced was enormous. No book
dealing with a scientific subject had ever, I suppose, been so largely
read by people who were not scientific. J was an undergraduate at
Oxford at the time, and I recollect very well that many of my
fellow undergraduates who never opened—I will not say a scientific,
but hardly even a serious book before—procured the treatise and
read it with avidity. We all talked about it. We discussed it with
the greatest ardor, indeed, with a positiveness which was in inverse
ratio to our knowledge; and it was the same all over England.
“The Origin” was not only the subject of constant comment in
magazines and newspapers as well as at meetings of scientific socie-
ties, but it furnished a theme for constant jests in the comic papers,
and it was an unfailing topic for conversation in all cultivated
private houses. There was, of course, a good deal of alarm created
by it. The alarm was perhaps not quite as great as some people
have since represented. In England we had long been occupied
by what was called the “ conflict between theology and geology,” so
the new doctrine in its bearings on the Scriptural account of the
creation did not find us altogether unprepared. There had been a
good many scientific geologists, who were also religious men, some,
like Dean Buckland and dear old Professor Sedgwick, of Cambridge,
some of them clergymen, and who had continually said there could
not be any conflict between science and religion. But still, apart
from the more educated persons and those whom they influenced,
there was in many circles, particularly, of course, in the ecclesiastical
circles, a good deal of alarm and a great deal of somewhat heated dis-
cussion. Some hard words were said even about Mr. Darwin himself.
1909.] BRYCE—REMINISCENCES OF CHARLES DARWIN. xt
To those he never replied. He showed the greatest dignity and the
greatest wisdom, never descending intothe arena. But he soon found
champions, and among others he found one, who then first came into
notice and then first showed his remarkable controversial powers,
powers which he was fond of displaying—and indeed could not
help displaying, because when a man has a gift he cannot help enjoy-
ing the use of it—I mean the late Professor Huxley. Huxley was
then a comparatively young man. He embraced Mr. Darwin’s doc-
trines with great eagerness, and he championed him with passionate
zeal. I recollect a little incident that happened about that time, which
may possibly be worth recalling to your memory. There was a meet-
ing of the British Association held not long after the “Origin of
Species ” had appeared—I think within two or three years—at which
the then Bishop of Oxford, Dr. Samuel Wilberforce, was brought
down as an ecclesiastical champion to demolish Darwin. He was a
man of remarkable oratorical powers, with a quick, ready and
flexible mind, acute and witty, and able, like a practiced rhetorician,
to make the best of any case presented to him, with not much regard
to the truth of the facts or the soundness of the argument. There
occurred a controversy between him and Mr. Huxley at one of those
meetings. The bishop had made a clever and amusing speech,
in which he showed up what he conceived to be the weak points of
the Darwinian theory, and turned it, as far as he could, into ridicule
—asking the audience, with some scorn, whether they wished to be
descendants from apes, whether that was the kind of ancestors they
could look back to with pride, and sat down amid a tempest of
applause, after having, as his supporters thought, succeeded in
making the Darwinian theory not only improbable, but even con-
temptible. Mr. Huxley rose to reply, and after setting forth with
great force and ample knowledge his serious argument, observed
that the Bishop of Oxford had asked whether any man there would
like to have an ape for his ancestor. For his part, he would say
only this, that if he were obliged to choose between having for his
ancestor an ape, or having for his ancestor a man who, enjoying
a high position and a great reputation, being possessed of brilliant
oratorical powers and a fund of sarcastic wit, were to use that
position and those powers for the sake of obstructing the progress
xe THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
of truth, and trying to pour ridicule and scorn upon those who were
humbly and patiently trying to discover truth, then, he proceeded,
“Tf I were compelled to make that choice, I would—.” At this he
stopped and said, “ But perhaps I better go no further.”
These personalities, however, so far as Mr. Darwin was con-
cerned, soon died down. In the year 1870 he was offered an
honorary degree by the University of Oxford, which was then a
very much more clerical and conservative body than it is now, and
the offer was made at the suggestion of Lord Salisbury, who was
then Chancellor of the University, leader of the Conservative party
in England, and himself a political champion of the Church of
England. Everyone felt that the right thing had been done when
the degree was offered, although, unfortunately, the weak state of
Mr. Darwin’s health prevented him from coming to receive it at
Oxford. During the latter part of his life he was one of the most
honored men in England. There was no one who did not respect
and admire him, no one who did not consider it a privilege to have
the opportunity of seeing him. He was, however, very seldom seen.
Rarely has it happened that a man so famous should be so little
personally known. His health had been weak for many years. He
took up his residence at a hamlet called Down, in a hollow among the
chalk hills of Kent, about fifteen or twenty miles southeast of London,
quite a little remote place, three or four miles from the nearest rail-
way station, with practically no neighbors, and there he lived, pursuing
his researches, seldom receiving visits. ,I do not suppose he visited
London once a year during the time he lived there. It was a happy,
peaceful life that he led. He was surrounded by a devoted family,
who took the greatest care of his health, and who helped him in his
researches. He was singularly fortunate in his domestic relations
and he had the unusual happiness for a scientific man of finding
that nearly all his sons had scientific tastes, while one or two of them
helped him effectively in the prosecution of his researches. Sev-
eral of them have become eminent men or science. One was
President of the British Association three years ago, and is a
distinguished astronomer. Another one was President of the
British Association last year and is a distinguished botanist. It
was at his home that I saw him, a year and a half before his death.
1999] BRYCE—REMINISCENCES OF CHARLES DARWIN. xii
One could converse with him for a few minutes only because his
health was so feeble that it was necessary to save all the time he
could spare for the prosecution of his work, as he was only able to
work for two or three hours a day, perhaps even less, and talking
fatigued him. The conversation I had with him lasted less than
twenty-five minutes, and at the end of that time one of his sons
came in and took him away to lie down and rest.
The portraits of him which you have seen are extremely good
and give a correct impression of his features and air. I can hardly
imagine a more faithful representation, both of the features and of
the expression of his face than you have in the picture placed on
the easel in this room.t’ He was one of those men whose character
was palpably written on his face. He had a projecting brow, with
a forehead very full over the eyes, and a fine dome-shaped head.
His eyes were deep set, because the brow projected so far, and were
of a clear and steady blue, and he had a quiet, contemplative look,
with an occasional slight smile passing over his countenance
which made one feel perfectly at ease in his company. There was
nothing about him to make a stranger feel constrained or timorous in
his company, however deep one’s reverence, because his manner was
simple, natural, with nothing to indicate any consciousness of dis-
tinction. As I knew two of his most illustrious contemporaries in
the field of science, you may like to hear how their faces and that
of Darwin struck an observer. One was Lord Kelvin, whom many
of you here knew, and whom we lost only two years ago. He also
had a striking face, but the thing that most impressed one was the
activity, alertness and vivacity, the constant play of mind, the quick-
ness and mobility of his expression. The other of these two great
men was Helmholtz. He had a look of steadiness, concentration
and solidity. His face was a kindly one, friendly and genial, but
much quieter than Kelvin’s. Helmholtz seemed to be continually
bent upon thinking out some thought or calculation calmly and per-
sistently. Mr. Darwin had the same tranquility, the same patience.
His look was both penetrative and meditative. It was not so quick
and capable of swift change as Kelvin’s was, but it had nevertheless
the keenness and sensitiveness of the man whom nothing escaped,
+ Collier’s portrait, etched by Flamang.
xiv THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
who saw everything that there was to see, whose eyes seemed to
pierce beneath the surface of things. Acute observation and patient
reflection were both written in it. One felt that hardly any problem
would be too difficult to be solved by the steadiness and persistence
of his thought.
As often happens, one cannot after the lapse of years remember
much of the conversation that passed, and only a few things that
Mr. Darwin said rise to my mind now. The subject of malaria and
malarial diseases happened to be mentioned and their prevalence
over large parts of the world. It was before the time of the dis-
covery of the malaria-bearing mosquito, and he observed that if
any one could discover a method of inoculation which would make
men immune against malaria, that that would be one of the greatest
discoveries of the world. He thought at that time that if this dis-
covery came about it would be of supreme significance for commer-
cial and political affairs by making possible the development by
white men of large parts of the earth’s surface, such as tropical
Africa. He added it was a mistake to suppose that malaria was
confined to marshy districts. In the Cape Verde Islands, which he
had visited, when a heavy shower falls malaria appears within a
day or two afterwards. The Cape Verde Islands are, he said, of
dry volcanic rock, and yet in spots on them where there were no
marsh at all heavy rains falling upon this volcanic rock would be
quickly followed by an outbreak of malarial fever. Of course, we
know now how to explain that, but he had been struck by the fact
before others had discovered the part played by the mosquito.
The impression which his whole demeanour and conversation
made was that of perfect candour and naturalness. There was noth-
ing of what people call “ self-consciousness.”’
Darwin left on every one who knew him the impression of a
philosopher in that old sense of the word which makes it denote
not only the love of wisdom and truth but the tranquility of mind,
the calmness and peace, which devotion to truth brings. In him
wisdom and the search for truth appeared to have had their perfect
work, in forming a character, so beautiful in its earnestness, its
modesty, its simplicity, its sweet serenity.
THE INFLUENCE OF DARWIN ON THE NATURAL
SCIENCES:
By GEORGE LINCOLN GOODALE.
We are to examine the more striking features of a revolution
which began half a century ago. The smoke and dust of contro-
versy have drifted away, and it is now possible to see with some
degree of clearness the magnitude of the issue and the nature of
the reconstruction. In order to appreciate the completeness of the
change, we must contrast, as fully as our time permits, the condi-
tion of the natural sciences fifty years ago with their state at the
present time.
In 1858 Alfred Russell Wallace and Charles Darwin first gave
to the public their fruitful suggestion in regard to the struggle for
existence and the survival of the fittest. In the following year
Darwin embodied this idea in his “ Origin of Species,’ and illus-
trated it fully. Those two dates mark the beginning of a new era
in natural science. By natural science, as distinguished from
physical science on the one hand, and from mental and moral science
on the other, is commonly meant that department of investigation
which deals with living and extinct plants and animals, especially
with regard to their structure and distribution. The century end-
ing in 1859 was remarkable for its persistent attachment to a dogma
in natural science which had proved more and more embarrassing
as the century advanced. This dogma is known as that of the
fixity, or permanence, of species.
The word species, denoting a particular kind of mineral, plant or
animal, is very old in its general application, but it assumed in 1750
a definite meaning at the hands of a great reformer of natural his-
tory, Linnzeus, of Sweden. He found the term used vaguely, and
he gave to it a restricted signification. Everybody recognizes the
fact that the living world around us is composed of individuals
which resemble each other more or less closely. When these in-
xv
LVI THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
dividuals resemble one another very closely indeed, just as parents
and offspring are alike in almost all respects, they are held to con-
stitute a species, varying within narrow limits, beyond which limits
they never permanently trespass. This conception of species carries
with it the notion that they have come down to us out of the past
in straight lines of descent, or stating this in the words of Linnzus,
there “are just as many species as there were forms created at the
beginning.” These fixed, permanent, created forms are species.
As a matter of fact, in a few doubtful instances, Linnzus seems
to have thought that a perplexing species might possibly have been
derived from some variety of another species, but these questionable
cases were so few that they cannot obscure the truth that Linnzus
gave the whole weight of his authority in favor of the dogma of the
permanence of species. Even in his lifetime there were bold specu-
lators who ventured to express their skepticism regarding the
validity of the dogma; but none of them made out a very good case
against it, and eventually all serious opposition died away.
The influence exerted by Linnzeus was largely due to his benef-
icent reforms in natural history, which placed the whole scientific
world under obligation to him. Let us glance at these sources of
his authority, by which his opinions in regard to species held almost
undisputed supremacy for a full century.
Linnzus, at the beginning of his work, found a cumbersome and
vexatious nomenclature. Certain sorts of plants had received names
which were made up of more than twenty Latin adjectives trailing
after a substantive. Linnzeus cleared away this worse than useless
nomenclature and replaced it by a binomial, or two-name system,
which answered every purpose. Furthermore, he became so im-
patient at the tedious and prolix descriptions which filled many of
the contemporary treatises on animals and plants, that he set him-
self to work to reform this fault. He constructed a sort of grammar
of botany, known as philosophia botanica, in which he placed, in
orderly manner, the rules which had governed him in framing his
own descriptions. These rules met with general acceptance on
account of their good sense, usefulness, and wide applicability. The
rules insisted on brevity, clearness and accuracy. They have never
been wholly superseded. Such were the two great reforms in
1909.1 GOODALE—DARWIN AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES. = xvia
nomenclature and in description. They placed Linnzeus in the posi-
tion of a master whose word was law. Besides these two reforms
which were promptly and gratefully accepted, there was also a sug-
gestion made by him in regard to the identification of plants which
was so useful and attractive that it greatly increased his influence.
This suggestion led a host of amateur and professional explorers to
seek new plants in all countries. Your own city shared in this, as
Bartram’s garden proves. Some of these plants were named and
described by the explorers themselves under the rules of Linnzus,
but a large proportion of the remainder were placed at the disposal
of the great master. This convenient system of identification par-
took of the nature of a system of classification, thoroughly artificial,
but eminently practical. Thus by his two immense reforms and by
his ingenious system of classification, Linnzus reached a point
where, consciously or unconsciously, he became a dictator in many
departments of natural history. It must be remembered further,
that his authority was greatly augmented by the wide range of his
activities, for he lived and worked before the days of specialization.
Hence he could give to the world a “ Systema Nature.”
In his reforms and in his provisional system he made use of two
units, the individual and the species. The individual is the unit of
description, the species is the unit of classification. Both of them
presented curious difficulties of definition. Thus an individual is
usually defined as a thing or an organism which cannot be separated
into parts without losing its identity. But if we take an individual
plant, say, of rose, we can divide it into a hundred different pieces,
each of which is capable of independent growth. In the higher
animals, like man, for instance, and in a great many of the lower
plants, complete individuality is easily recognizable; but, on the
other hand, many of the lower animals and practically all of our
higher plants are communities rather than individuals. If any in-
dividuality at all exists, it is composite and corporate. The other
unit, the species, fares hardly better at the hands of one who tries to
define it strictly. If we take the definition already quoted from
Linnzeus or if we define it as “a perennial succession of individuals
perpetuated by generation,
must be largely a matter of judgment, since, as a rule, the naturalist
9)
the determination of any given case
PROC, AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. I9I By PRINTED JULY 7, 1909.
LVI THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
does not and cannot have both parent and offspring to guide him
in his decision. It often happens that only a single individual is at
hand for description. This is especially the case in the study of
collections made under difficulties, where it has been possible to get
only one or two specimens of a kind. The judgment must control
in such studies of resemblances. But inasmuch as we associate the
idea of affinity with resemblance, the question kept arising in the
minds of some naturalists even in the time of Linnzus, if resem-
blance is the controlling factor in determining that two or more
individuals, however variant, belong to a given species, and if we
claim that a given species is a line of individuals related by descent,
what are we to say when we find two species very closely resembling
each other? Are they related also? And by descent? It is, in
short, impossible to keep the idea of relationship by consanguinity
out of the mind. It forces itself at some time or other upon every
student. Among those who were most embarrassed by this recur-
rent query which would not be silenced, was Buffon, the naturalist.
He appears to have been much troubled at different times by the °
perplexing question which could be explained only on the basis of
transmutation, but he was not able to offer any suggestion as to
the origination of species, which could be well defended. For a
long time he sustained animated controversies with his contempo-
raries, but never to good advantage. Nor did Lamarck, another
naturalist of about the same period, succeed in impressing upon his
associates his views in regard to the mutability of species. He made
suggestion after suggestion as to some possible method by which
a change of conditions acting on the organism, could bring about
a change of form and structure. He constructed a fabric of hy-
potheses by which he endeavored to account for the origin of
species. But it is the concurrent testimony of all who have familiar-
ized themselves with his work, that in the shape in which he urged
it, it deserved a part of the ridicule with which it was ruled out
of court. Geoffroy de St. Hilaire held similar views, but he could
not convince his contemporaries that the suggestions were satis-
factory. The poet Goethe also was intensely interested in the dis-
cussion, especially that which took place between St. Hilaire and
Cuvier, and endeavored by his own writings to clear up many of
1909.1 GOODALE—DARWIN AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES. «mix
these matters. But none of these were able to make any headway
against the authority of Linnzeus and Cuvier. Time would fail
us to enumerate the nature-philosophers as they were called, and
the naturalists, who rebelled with little effect against the dominance
of the dogma of the fixity of species.
Their rebellion was practically of no effect, and yet today we
can see that they were right in many of their contentions. Pro-
fessor Osborne has given us in his excellent work, entitled “ From
the Greeks to Darwin,” a capital sketch of these views, tracing
them down from early times.
The authority of Linneus and of Cuvier was enough to offset
any of the speculations on the other side. But when the century
was far advanced, the need of the readjustment of views became
increasingly evident. On the one hand was the obvious fact that
species do not change enough from year to year, to account for
derivative descent, but, on the other, there were many questions
which could be answered only by frankly admitting such deriva-
tion. First of all, it was exceedingly difficult to meet the problems
presented by fossil plants and animals. To face these problems,
even in a half-hearted way, it was necessary to assume the occur-
rence of successive catastrophes and fresh creations. And when,
especially by the work of Lyell, the geologist, it became plainer, day
by day, that instead of sudden scene-shifting in the drama of animal
and plant-life, the play had always gone with no interruption, the
situation became almost desperate. Secondly, the existence of
rudimentary organs could not be at all understood on the basis of
fixity of species. Useless organs have no place whatever in that
scheme of primary creation. Thirdly, there were hosts of questions
arising in regard to distribution of plants and animals which no man
could answer on the basis of constancy of species.
Meanwhile, collections were increasing, and problems were be-
coming more insistent. And so the century closed in 1858, with
many dissatisfied naturalists throughout the world, who were still
in the dark and without a guiding clue. There was not in any
country any scientific explanation of these great questions which
commanded confidence or even respect. The dogma of constancy
of species bound fast with its fetters all natural science and hindered
wx THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
further progress. It was at this time that Mr. Wallace and Mr.
Darwin made their happy suggestion. The two communications
were presented to the Linnean Society, on July 1, 1858, practically
as a joint production. All the inflammable materials were at hand
for a disgraceful contention as to priority between two path-break-
ing pioneers. Each one was confident that he had found a plan by
which it was possible to cut one’s way through a formidable tangle
of phenomena. But these great souls, Darwin and Wallace, joint
authors of the hypothesis, vied with each other to give the other
full credit for independent discovery. And more than this, they
searched for those who had thought out their thoughts before them,
and were rejoiced when they found that at least one thinker had
anticipated them both, and that very many thinkers had been near
the discovery. This noble example of magnanimity must be placed
among the factors which have created Darwin’s immense influence.
The suggestion or hypothesis is chiefly a statement of admitted
facts. Both of these naturalists had been overwhelmed by the
luxuriance of life in the tropics and both had been readers of a
treatise in which the relations of numbers of living beings to space
and food had been intelligently treated. Surrounded by tropical
plants, and investigating tropical animals, they independently applied
the treatise they had been perusing to the conditions around them.
Wallace and Darwin observed what everybody knows, that in count-
less cases, the offspring largely outnumber the parents, and that this
necessarily brings about a struggle for space and food. They also
were much impressed by the wide variability of species, some
varieties turning slightly away from the parental type in one direc-
tion, and others in other directions. And thirdly they saw what
every one sees, that the conditions surrounding the organism are
undergoing changes in respect to light, heat, moisture and the pres-
ence of other organisms. And next, these two naturalists did what
no one else (save one) had ever done, namely, they put these three
factors together, and framed a suggestive hypothesis. The hypoth-
esis merely places a suggestion under all the foregoing facts, and
it is this—admitting, as everyone must, that there are more plants
to be grown and more mouths to be fed than there is room or food
for, is it not likely that the fittest among the varieties will, on the
1909-] GOODALE—DARWIN AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES. avi
whole, stand the best chance? Not necessarily the strongest, but
those best fitted for the conditioning surroundings will survive. And
then came a startling inquiry from both of them; may not all this
perhaps account for much that we know about the structure and
distribution of organisms and the groups of organisms which we
call species? This is a very innocent question and the papers
did not excite much attention at the time; in fact Mr. Darwin says
that the only remark he could recall was by a naturalist who thought
that all “that was new in them was false, and what was true
was old.”
A year later the same suggestion, amplified in many particulars
and copiously illustrated was published in the famous work entitled
bd
the “ Origin of Species,’ and then an alarm was sounded all along
the line.
We pass now to a short study of the immediate effect of the
publication of the “ Origin of Species.” Let us not waste any time
in recalling the bitter strife which the alarm-signal began. Let
bygones be bygones. Those who were most prominent in antagon-
izing the hypothesis are most anxious now to have their hostile
attitude forgotten. In the first place, we may say in a general
way that the hypothesis met’ every problem fairly and squarely.
It explained the succession of life on our planet, and pointed out a
solution of the most puzzling problems of distribution. There were
a few questions in regard to fossils which seemed to demand that
the hypothesis should be strengthened by one of the tentative hypoth-
eses suggested by Lamarck, which had fallen into soil sterile in his.
time, but now receptive and fertile. It explained the mysteries of
parasitism, and of vanishing and rudimentary organs. It opened
up new fields of research in all directions, and gave a fresh interest
to all the old parts of the science. It showed that resemblances.
meant relationship, that is, affinity by birth, and that it was no
longer necessary to apologize shamefacedly for saying that two
plants or two animals were related. Under the new light it could
be seen that the species were no longer to be regarded as dry things
to be placed on shelves and catalogued, but as histories to be
wrought out. To be sure, this is not always easy to do, and there
xa THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
are differences of opinion as to the affinities in certain cases. It is
of course a matter of discriminating judgment.
The “ Origin of Species” invaded at once new fields of research
and stimulated investigation in all the territory around the domain
of natural science; it has proposed new problems but it has held
out the key to solve them. We should be untrue admirers of
Darwin if we should forget that he regarded his suggestion as not
universally applicable. At least in some parts of the subject of
paleontology, as we have already remarked, one of the suggestions
made by his predecessor Lamarck appears to be more satisfactory,
because it brings out clearly two points of importance, response to
surroundings and inheritance of acquired characters. From lack
of time Darwin was unable always to measure precisely the exact
degree of variation in the cases before him, but he often used rough
and ready methods. Let us realize, however, that from these crude
methods has sprung up a new science, biometry, which is engaged
in investigating and measuring the most minute variations. It is
characterized by the extreme of exactness.
When we look over the constantly lengthening list of works
inspired by Darwin’s genius, and gathered together under the head-
ing Darwinian bibliography, we can appreciate the greatness of
the service rendered by him in freeing science from the shackles
of the dogma of constancy of species. In order to render this
voluminous Darwinian literature readily available, it is divided into
many separate groups, such as relations of flowers to insects, climb-
ing plants and so on, and each of these groups is divided again, and
many of them lead down or up to practical applications. Perhaps
the most enticing of all the new fields thrown open to investigation
by discarding the dogma, is that of purposeful breeding of plants
and animals. In this great domain of research there are many
workers, a few of whom, it is not ungracious to call somewhat
ungrateful. Some of these ungrateful students indulge now and
then in unfriendly criticism of particular views as to heredity
assumed to have been held by Darwin. Such critics forget that if
it were not for the help given by Darwin’s search-light they would
now be groping in darkness. Breeding to points, as it is called,
deals with varieties under cultivation and domestication.
1909.] GOODALE—DARWIN AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES. gaiii
It must be unequivocally stated that from the time of Linnaeus
down, variation and varieties have been recognized within the limits
of species, but they had usually been regarded as so unimportant
that they were practically ignored. -They were considered by Lin-
neus playthings and profit-makers for horticulturists and nothing
more.
The students of plant-breeding and animal-breeding in studying
variation have rightly introduced some modifications of the original
idea suggested by Darwin, and hence we have all sorts of new names
for the different phases, such as Mendelism, Neo-Lamarckism,
Neo-Darwinism, Weissmannism and the like. Verily, it does seem
as if the strength of an article of faith is known by the schisms
it keeps.
Two especially good results have come about scientifically from
these studies of minute variations in biometry and eugenics. The
first is that many varieties are now recognized as species in the
making. Secondly, some of our acknowledged species are probably
groups of species. Perhaps this admission may lead to too great
a splitting up of established species. For instance, the species of
American hawthorn, formerly counted by a couple of scores at
most, are now counted by hundreds. But if the new so-called
species are merely races, that is, established varieties, they are at
least nascent species, and ought to have a place in the rcords. And
further, it is no longer a misdemeanor in science to break up a
species into its form-elements.
And now, in bringing this sketch to a close, let us confess frankly
that the cause of variation, on which natural selection depends, is
not yet positively known. ‘That is the most important and inviting
subject in biological science today.
Besides the liberating influences of Darwin’s work on species,
and its stimulating effect on all departments of biological inquiry,
there is still to be noted the influence of Darwin’s personal example
of frankness, patience and magnanimity. It is good to remember
that he would never indulge in controversy regarding his views
relative to species. To be sure he had most valiant champions, who
rather enjoyed a free fight, but he did not himself waste his time
in discussion. He preferred to employ all of his scanty minutes
xxiv THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
saved from the exactions of physical infirmity, for the nobler pursuit
of Socratic questioning. Sometimes he asked questions of men, he
was always asking questions of nature. Such an example of
insatiable thirst for truth carries with it a profound influence for
good, not only in science but in all departments of thought and in
every-day affairs. Darwin’s influence has been emphatically stimu-
lating and wholesome. But, for a moment, let us ask what if his
hypothesis which explains so much, but which from the nature of
the case is unprovable, should hereafter be replaced by some new
hypothesis on the whole more satisfactory? Of this at least we
are positive: what has been done in this revolution cannot be undone ;
we never can go back to the dogma of the constancy of species.
It is worth while to reflect a moment upon an historical parallel
which has been often cited and which will always stand as an object
of comparison, namely, the discovery by Copernicus. Can we imag-
ine what our sensations would have been on the morning when it
was first seriously announced that the sun does not really rise, but
merely appears to do so because the revolving earth turns toward
it? It is difficult for us to realize the immensity of the shock of
being thus commanded to change our views as to the entire order
of the solar system. We should probably have resisted surrender
as long as possible.
But, after a while, when it became clear that the hypothesis of
Copernicus explained most of the phenomena of the heavens satis-
factorily, we should have adjusted ourselves to the new conception,
although we should have retained some of our former expressions
in common speech, “the sun rises” and “the sun sets.”
Here and there diligent search may find some person who holds
that the accepted view as to the solar system is wholly wrong, and
who maintains with the ancients that the sun does move and that
the earth is flat.
But probably there is not today a single competent naturalist
who looks upon species as permanent or fixed. That dogma dis-
appeared when the Darwinian hypothesis compelled the scientific
world to reéxamine the subject in the light of variation. That revo-
lution in natural science has been complete.
THE INFLUENCE OF DARWIN, ON THE MENTAL AND
MORAL SCIENCES:
By GEORGE STUART FULLERTON.
It is my pleasant task this evening to dwell upon the influence
which the life-work of Charles Darwin has had upon the develop-
ment of a group of sciences with which men do not usually very
closely associate his name. Darwin was a naturalist—his life was
devoted in large measure to the investigation of certain of the phe-
nomena of the material world, a world to which the highest of
organisms as unequivocally belong as do the simplest forms of inor-
ganic matter. But it was impossible that the eager and impartial
curiosity of so great an observer should overlook anything so sig-
nificant in the scheme of nature as is mind—the mind of the brute
and the mind of man. We find in his works, as might be expected,
profoundly suggestive thoughts on instinct and reason, on the ethical
and the esthetic emotions, on the social nature of man and the
development of human society. These thoughts have, directly and
indirectly, exercised an enormous influence in fields of investigation
which, in the nature of the case, it was impossible that he should
subject to systematic cultivation.
Darwin’s opinions upon the topics to which I have alluded have
been the subject of endless discussion. Heredity and environment,
variation and adaptation, the struggle for existence and the survival
of the fittest have become household words to those who study man,
individual or social, as well as to those who occupy themselves with
natural science in the usual acceptance of the term. The nature of
my theme, and the time at my disposal, preclude the possibility of
my setting before you in detail the views which Darwin has ex-
pressed on matters which lie within the field of the mental and moral
sciences. His influence is not to be ascribed to the fact that he left
behind him a certain collection of opinions, which are to be accepted
or rejected individually. It has its main source, rather, in a certain
LLU
EVE THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
fundamental attitude, a point of view, which has proved so signifi-
cant, so vital, so revolutionary, that its acceptance compels a world-
wide change in the spirit and method in which we approach the
sciences which treat of man. It is this point of view that I shall
discuss in what follows.
The central and significant truth which Darwin and his followers
have forced upon our attention is that man is literally and unequivo-
cally to be given a place in nature, if we are to make him the subject
of scientific investigation. It may be said: Has man not always
been given a place in nature? To this I answer: Yes and no. It
has, of course, been impossible to deny the palpable fact that man
does exist on this planet, that he is to be assigned a definite time
and place of being. But he who is acquainted with the history of
human thought during the centuries past cannot but be aware that
the place assigned to man in nature has often, indeed, has generally,
been an equivocal one. The earliest Greek philosophy was, it is
true, naturalistic; and it is also true that, in the centuries past, some
form of naturalism has again and again come to the front. Never-
theless, we must remember that, on the one hand, these philosophies,
while of speculative interest, remained relatively unfruitful in the
explanation of concrete facts; and that, on the other, they were con-
fronted with and influenced by a powerful tradition of a very dif-
ferent sort, a tradition which has always regarded man as a thing
in some sense in nature, but not of it. I think it is not too much
to say that, on the whole, pre-Darwinian science treated man as an
equivocal thing. The sciences which occupy themselves with man
grew up under the influence of preconceptions which have only
within a generation been disappearing in the solvent of the new
thought.
It is with some hesitation that one undertakes to describe in a
few sentences the characteristic spirit of a given group of sciences
at a definite time. There are always differences of opinion to be
remarked. The old and the new, cautious conservatism and radical
independence exist side by side. Nevertheless, to bring out clearly
the extraordinary change, largely due to the influence of Darwin,
which has come over the mental and moral sciences, I shall attempt
a characterization, going back, first, to a time to which those of us
1909.] FULLERTON—DARWIN AND MENTAL SCIENCES. xavit
who are no longer young can easily think ourselves back; and, then,
touching upon those sciences as they are at the present day. I fore-
stall criticism by remarking that no one can be more conscious of
the very impressionistic nature of the pictures which I thus draw
with a few strokes than am I myself.
Can we not remember a psychology which no one attempted to
treat as a natural science? A psychology which accepted a mind
endowed with a certain group of faculties or powers, which seemed
as ultimate, as irreducible, as little to be explained or accounted for
as if the mind had been abstracted, fully developed, from some other
universe than ours, and were incorporated in a tenement chosen at
haphazard, which had to be accepted as serving its purpose passably
well for a season? It was a psychology which lived in an atmos-
phere of abstractions, was inextricably mixed up with philosophical
speculations, and took comparatively little note of the differences
between minds, and the significance of such. It was a psychology
to which the revelations of mind in the lower animals, the dawning
intelligence of the infant, the aberrations from normal development
discoverable in the idiot or the mentally deranged, the mental dif-
ferences which characterize the races and peoples which cover our
globe, remained relatively insignificant.
I do not mean to underestimate the science of psychology even
at this stage of its development. But I wish to draw attention to
the fact that such a psychology is little more than an attempt to
describe, in its general outlines, a given type of mind, that of the
normal, developed, civilized man. It accepts the characteristic of
such a mind; it does not attempt to explain them; in treating mental
phenomena in abstraction from the great organism of nature, it
reduces the knowledge which it has to a body of facts robbed of a
great part of their meaning.
Of esthetics and ethics one may speak very much as I have
spoken of psychology. The one concerned itself with beauty as
it is revealed to man at a certain stage of his intellectual and emo-
tional development; the other with his moral judgments, which
were accepted as final, indisputable, inexplicable. To one of the
most learned of British scholars, the ornament of a great university,
it did not seem out of place, a few decades ago, to write a treatise
LUV THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [February 5,
on morals after the pattern of a treatise on geometry. A few
fundamental principles were taken up as having ultimate and un-
questioned authority, an authority analogous to the definitions and
axioms of a mathematical treatise; then the attempt was made to
deduce from them a complete system of ethical maxims. As we
peruse the volume now, we see in it, as in a mirror, the moral
features of the character of the author. It is clear that he had
arrived at a high stage in his ethical development, that benevolence,
justice, veracity, obedience to law, and all the rest, were principles
sacred to him—as they should be. And we can also see that he
was a prudent man, with a wholesome tendency to check even good
principles which seem in danger of running out into riotous excess.
Does he not tell us unequivocally that the command “ Thou shalt
not lie,” is absolute and unequivocal; and does he not, when in a
later chapter he considers certain cases in which a strict adherence to
truth would appear to precipitate grave disaster, prudently refuse to
give us counsel, and leave us to the uncertain dictates of our be-
wildered conscience? How can we expect of him that he bring
to an end a strife between two ethical principles, that of veracity and
that of benevolence, equally independent, underived, ultimate,
neither of which can abate one jot of its authority? In the nature
of the case, our only refuge seems to be in an illogical compromise.
Ethics, so conceived, can scarcely be called science.
Of the earlier condition of that science which studies man as
organized into societies, a science which comprises a whole group of
subsidiary sciences, there are others here better qualified to speak
than am I. But it appears self-evident that, in so far as the nature
of man is regarded as a thing to be accepted rather than to be
accounted for, a limit is set to the province of explanation in all
those sciences which concern themselves with the study of the social
organism in its various phases and in the course of its development.
That province is immeasurably widened when description is re-
garded as only a first step, the preliminary to a study of origins.
It will be admitted by all that description once played a more
exclusive rdle in the study of social phenomena than it does in our
day.
. That a revolution has taken place in the sciences upon which I
1909. ] FULLERTON—DARWIN AND MENTAL SCIENCES. en
have touched so briefly must be evident to anyone acquainted with
what is going on in those fields at the present time. The dominant
idea which has controlled the progress which has been made, we owe
to the genius of Darwin. That dominant idea is that the mind of
man as well as the body of man must be treated as a natural phe-
nomenon, making its appearance under given physical conditions;
to be accounted for, as physical peculiarities are to be accounted
for, by a reference to heredity and environment; a thing so inti-
mately related to the body, that it must be looked upon as a function,
an instrument significant in the struggle for existence, a something
full of meaning, if accepted in its setting, but, torn from that
setting, a riddle, a document in cipher, an unfruitful fact for
science.
He who would be a psychologist today is compelled at the outset
to realize that he is not studying that traditional abstraction, the
human mind, with its traditional endowment of abstract faculties,
but is studying mental phenomena as they are revealed in connection
with a variety of organisms. He is forced to acquaint himself with
anatomy and physiology, to study with especial care the senses and
the nervous system of man. He is impressed with the necessity of
supplementing the deficiencies of observation by an appeal to experi-
ment, and he is introduced into a laboratory fitted out with an
arsenal of apparatus, that would have inspired the psychologist of
an earlier time with dismay. Moreover, it is dinned into his ears
that no manifestation of mind must be neglected. He hears of
animal psychology, child psychology, race psychology, pathological
psychology, and the rest, until the magnitude of his task looms
up before him and oppresses him with the boundlessness of his
ignorance.
No man is more conscious of his shortcomings of the science of
psychology today than is the psychologist himself. The air is full
of strife, we are pressed upon on all sides by unsolved problems for
which rival solutions are offered. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied
that this science is gradually taking its place among other sciences
which study the phenomena of nature, following with patient and
painstaking effort the ofttimes weary road of observation, experi-
ment, sober hypothesis and verification. He whose science may lead
UNA THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
him to reflect with curiosity upon the possible psychic life of micro-
organisms, to stand perplexed before a case of dual personality, to
note the resemblances and the differences which mark the mental
life of the lowest and of the highest races of men, to contrast with
these the evidences of intelligence betrayed by creatures which stand
lower in the scale of life, cannot but be impressed by the fact that
given manifestations of mind occur under given conditions, that
mental phenomena are to be assigned unequivocally a place in the
evolution of things. For him, the mind of a man, or the mind of a
brute, is not an explained fact, for his science leads him as yet but
a very little way; but it is an explicable fact, a theoretically explic-
able fact. He stands with confessed ignorance in the presence of
many mysteries; but it is the fundamental assumption of his science
that they are not hopeless mysteries; they are the mysteries of in-
complete knowledge.
It will readily be seen even by a layman that this psychology is
not the psychology of the pre-Darwinian thought. The old psy-
chology has not merely grown, as all sciences may be expected to
grow under the hands of their builders. It has been revolutionized.
Mental phenomena are no longer phenomena at large, with no
definite relation to any system. They are brought down from the
empyrean and planted in the bosom of mother earth; where it,
must be confessed, they seem to find a soil adapted to them, and
where they show signs of a fertility in which they before appeared
conspicuously lacking.
This modern view of the mind has been of far-reaching signifi-
cance for all the sciences which treat of man, individual and social.
Thus, the science of esthetics regards as significant material the
sentiment of beauty in its lowest manifestations as well as in its
highest. It cannot permit the dictation of any one man, or accept
as final the zesthetic judgment of any age or clime. It goes much
deeper, and recognizes a relative justification for judgments the
most diverse. Without denying progress, and without obliterating
the line between the actual and the ideal, it sees in the divers
standards of beauty which have been accepted or are accepted today,
aspects of the evolution of the higher emotions, each significant in its
place, having its rdle to play in the development of humanity, not to
1909.] FULLERTON—DARWIN AND MENTAL SCIENCES. LLL
be despised in any instance, but never to be accepted as a last
standard which shall remain fixed and unchangeable.
The ethical philosopher has come to view his science from the
same standpoint. He is concerned with rights and duties; man as
he studies him is necessarily a social creature, standing in more or
less complex relations with his fellow man. Man as a moral being
is a constituent part of a greater organism, the family, the tribe, the
state, humanity asa whole. The greater organism has a life history,
somewhat analogous to his own; it is unfolding a life which, begin-
ning with something relatively simple, comes to reveal in its later
stages an indefinitely greater degree of complexity. It is to be
expected that the rights and duties that express the relations of man
to man in the social organism should take no new aspects as the
relations themselves become more complex or come to be better
understood. It is inconceivable that the same qualities of mind
and character should, under widely varying conditions, call forth
the same degree of approval, or be stamped as detrimental and to
be discouraged. In other words, it is inconceivable that the social
conscience should be an unvarying thing, unadapted to its setting,
taking no note of those relations which are the very ground of its
being. Moral codes must vary, if they are to be significant of the
life of a community; actual ideals must be abandoned for better
ideals, if men are to rise to more enlightened conceptions, and to em-
body them in a higher life. Ethics can reverence everyman’s con-
science, regarding it as the expression of the stage of moral develop-
ment to which, for certain reasons, he has managed to climb. It
can regard no man’s conscience as infallible, inexplicable, an arbi-
trary limit to further development.
In speaking as I have of ethics, I have virtually described the
attitude of the modern man to the social and historical sciences
generally. It is impossible for me in the brief time at my command
to dwell at length upon these disciplines. Suffice it to say that
whether men are studying with the anthropologist, the differences
which characterize races and peoples; with the sociologist, the
general laws of the evolution of human societies, or the special
institutions which are now the subject of such detailed and laborious
investigation; with the historian, the life history of a community,
LULU THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
or of any class of men within a community ;—the work is coming
to be done under the control of the developmental idea. In seeking
for the explanation of social phenomena, influences are much dwelt
upon which once would have received little attention. Heredity,
environment in the broadest sense, adaptation to new conditions,
survival, these conceptions necessarily lie in men’s minds, and give
a direction to their efforts.
As I have said, the last half century has witnessed something
very like a revolution in the field of the sciences which con-
cern themselves with man. It may well be asked, why did not this
revolution take place earlier? Was there nothing in an earlier time
to suggest all this? to stimulate men to new and better directed
efforts? I answer, there was much. He who is familiar with the
history of philosophy knows well that there is scarcely one of the
great controlling ideas of modern science, which has not had its
forerunner in the thought of centuries gone by. Struck out like a
spark from the brain of some bold and independent thinker, it has
flashed for a moment upon the night and then has gone out. It has
not kindled the lamp, the steady flame, in the light of which the
world is now doing its work. Ideas can be born out of due time;
unadapted to their environment, they fail to develop and bear fruit.
Even a great thought may appear to us disembodied, a speculative
audacity which does not stand unequivocally upon solid ground as
a thing undeniable, unavoidable, necessarily to be reckoned with, as
much an inhabitant of the real world as are we ourselves. Such
thoughts can be ignored; they are seed cast upon stony ground.
Darwin’s great service to science, as we all know, does not consist
in the discovery of evolution, or even in the first suggestion of the
doctrine of natural selection. It lies in the fact that he made fruit-
ful what had been relatively unfruitful. His patient, cautious,
scientific demonstration of the value of his ideas in furnishing con-
crete explanations of the phenomena of organic life, coming at a
time at which the world was ready to understand what he had to
offer it, precipitated the great battle the echoes of which can still be
heard. He and his successors have made it impossible for us to
revert to the thought of an earlier day. The new doctrine is with
us, and stares back at us from the pages of scientific works in every
1909. ] FULLERTON—DARWIN AND MENTAL SCIENCES. = axa
field. We cannot refuse to acknowledge it; it only remains for us to
ask ourselves in what spirit we will admit it and adjust ourselves
to it. |
It is notorious that Darwin’s work aroused serious apprehension
and even bitter opposition on the part of many good people in his
own time. It would be wrong for me not to dwell upon both
aspects of the doctrine of the evolution of man and of human
society, for both are actually of lively interest to those busied with
the mental and moral sciences. The two aspects to which I allude are
these: On the one hand, in treating man as a natural phenomenon,
an explicable thing, we seem to be gaining much for science; on the
other hand, in placing him in nature as a part of nature, we appear
to degrade him from the high estate which the beliefs of the past
have assigned to him—to make him, not a little lower than the
angels, but a little higher than the brutes. I cannot refuse to discuss
these things, for have I not contrasted rather sharply the mental
-and moral sciences as they were, and the same sciences as they are
now, painting in no neutral colors the character of the modern in-
vestigator? It may fairly be asked whether the portrait is not too
highly colored. Are there not those now busied with the study of
man, in one or another of its aspects, who give but a qualified
assent to the doctrine of evolution as it is coming to be accepted by
‘many of their colleagues?
Let us dwell, first, for a few moments upon what men of the
‘most diverse opinions must recognize as the attractive aspect of the
-doctrine. The idea of evolution has unquestionably proved a valu-
cable instrument of investigation in every science which busies itself
with man. Whatever mental reservations the man of science may
cherish, whatever the limits which he may be inclined to set to
evolution, he actually appeals to the principle in the interpretation
of concrete facts. He finds that, in the light of it, the mind of
man, his opinions, his emotions, his esthetic judgments, his ethical
codes, his social institutions—everything becomes luminous with a
new significance.
Moreover, with an increase in comprehension comes a broader
and a more intelligent sympathy. At any stage of his progress
PROC. AMER. PHIL, SOC, XLVIII. I9I C*, PRINTED JULY 7, 1909.
wea THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [April 23,
man is what he is in virtue of his inheritance and his environment ;
it is not a matter of accident or of wholly inexplicable perversity
that, at certain stages in the evolution of society, men are ignorant,
limited in their sympathies, incapable of recognizing their own best
interests. He who realizes this can see a relative good in that
which the unenlightened will unhesitatingly condemn. There are
those who have welcomed with enthusiasm the idea of the ascent
of man, who have found it an inspiration to look into the future,
to conceive of a development as yet faintly foreshadowed; a devel-
opment from the standpoint of which man as he now is, limited in
intelligence and in the control of himself and of the forces of nature,
a creature of instinct and of impulse, climbing the hill before him
stumblingly and with much waste of effort, will seem a creature
to be pitied, a being whose feet are set on an upward path, it is
true, but, nevertheless, one who is only at the outset of his journey,
far from the regions of light toward which the development of
humanity is tending.
The development of humanity, the gradual evolution of social
systems, the idea of a historical order in which man has his definite
place—are these not conceptions which protect the man who has
really comprehended them against those radical proposals, so dear
to men of quick sympathies and of ardent temperament, to make
sudden and far-reaching changes in the social order, to forestall
the slow course of natural development, and at once to confer upon
us citizenship in some Utopia with all the advantages and none of
the drawbacks of the world in which we actually find ourselves,
and to which, as a matter of fact, we are moderately well adjusted?
I shall not dwell upon these visionary schemes. They always are,
they always have been, with us. It is no small thing to have in our
hands an instrument of defence against the man who would make
us perfect by violence, increase our stature by stretching us on the
rack, drive us perforce into a land of milk and honey, when we
cannot drink milk and are unfitted to subsist on honey.
So much for an inadequate sketch of one aspect of the doctrine
of evolution, for the fruitfulness of the idea as an instrument of
research, as a real help in pushing back the barriers of our ignorance,
as the earnest of a hope for better things to come. And now for
1909. ] FULLERTON—DARWIN AND MENTAL SCIENCES. LLLV
a few thoughts touching what has seemed to many a less alluring
aspect of the doctrine. In so far as we make man a part of nature,
and treat his mind as we treat other natural phenomena, do we not
deny his independence, the primacy which has been supposed to
be his? Do we not rob him of certain hopes and aspirations,
which men in the past have counted as very dear possessions? I
cannot describe to you in a sentence the attitude of the worker in
the mental and moral sciences toward this problem, for opinions
still differ widely.
There are those to whom a frank naturalism is not repugnant ;
who accept man as a natural phenomenon, and trouble themselves
little about the consequences. There are those who welcome the
conception of the evolution of man, but wish to set limits to its
scope. Something they would save out of nature, a spiritual prin-
ciple, which they variously define, and of which they sometimes
admit they can say little that is definite. There are those who,
launching themselves upon the seas navigated by the speculative
philosopher, announce to us discoveries that sound to the natural
man like the tales told by early travellers. They inform us that
the whole course of the evolution of nature, physical and mental,
is spiritual throughout; that the only ultimate reality is mind, and
that the world of physical phenomena which unfolds itself before
our eyes has its source and being in the interaction of minds. I
should not bring such a speculative view as this to the attention of
a society which is composed of workers in the special sciences,
were it not that it has recently had the endorsement of those to
whom no one would deny the right to be called scientific men—
among others, of the man who, I suppose, in the minds of a major-
ity of those here present, would take his place as the leading repre-
sentative of the scientific study of the mind now living in Europe.
Lastly, there are those, and they happen to be popular leaders, who
are in open revolt against science; and who try to save the freedom
and independence of man by setting up a new standard of truth,
and by refusing to recognize that this world is the orderly thing
that science assumes it to be. These last, I think, science will
scarcely take seriously.
In the foregoing, I have tried to give a fair account of the
LUUVI THE DARWIN. CENTENARY. [April 23,
direct and indirect influence which the life-work of Darwin has
actually had on the development of the mental and moral sciences.
I have endeavored not to obtrude my own personal views and predi-
lections. But I cannot forbear, at this point, to ask whether, before
deciding upon our attitude toward the doctrine of the evolution of
man, it would not be wise for us to turn to history, and to consult
the actual development of human thought in the past.
Again and again, when some new truth of wide significance has
been discovered, or has come to be vividly realized, it has seemed
to many dangerously revolutionary; it has presented itself under
a threatening aspect. Nevertheless, the outcome has not been pure
destruction.
The life of man has never been guided and moulded exclusively
by the clear light of science. Religious aspirations, ethical values
which have a traditional sanction and which have not been con-
sciously evolved as the result of scientific thought, have in all ages
acted as a support and a guide to life. The human mind refuses
to be held wholly within the limits of what has been definitely and
indisputably established—which limits, be it remarked, are by no
means so far apart as, to the uninitiated, they seem to be. Man
speculates regarding the ground of all things, he has aspirations
which seem to reach beyond the span of existence which lies in the
light of day before him.
Now, history has shown that, when any new advance in our
positive knowledge has seemed for a while to work with destructive
force against the ideas and ideals which have been of such high
value to mankind, the result has not been, as a matter of fact, a
destruction, but a readjustment, a broadening of view, a rise to
higher conceptions and ideals. Religious aspirations and ideals, the
conviction that ethical values are sacred and the life of man a thing
to be treated with reverence—these attitudes have not been aban-
doned. We do not seem to have reason to think that the acceptance
of the new evolutionary doctrine will banish them from the world.
Why, then, should we not freely and unreservedly accept the
doctrine of evolution as the useful instrument it has proved itself
to be in the sciences which concern themselves with man, and leave
to the future the determination by actual experiment of any limits
1909. ] FULLERTON—DARWIN AND MENTAL SCIENCES. = gravit
to be assigned to it? Why not trust to the future readjustment
which history teaches us to expect? Incidentally, it seems right to
call attention to the fact that we live in our own age, and not in
another; that the religious aspirations and the ethics of our age
are the ones which practically concern us, and must guide our lives.
The very doctrine of the evolution of man should teach us to be
conservative as well as progressive; to realize that growth does
not take place by a series of explosions; to see that our inheritance
from the past and our actual environment cannot be regarded as
without significance for human life. This is a practical matter upon
which, in such a paper, I touch with due apologies.
~ Now that I am at the end of my paper, I think it is not out of
place that I should make a personal confession of a natural human
weakness; a weakness which will, I believe, be shared with me by
many of those who are present. It is this: I dwell with the more
pleasure upon the great and beneficent influence of Darwin, in that
it is impossible to become acquainted with the life and character
of this wonderful man, gifted in intellect, modest, open-minded,
passionately sincere, free from envy and uncharitableness, a model
for those who devote themselves to the investigation of truth, with-
out being inspired with an affectionate admiration, and without
feeling a certain joy in the fact that, after the long and bitter con-
flict precipitated by his ideas, the mists of misconception should
have been cleared away, and his genius should meet with the gener-
ous recognition which is its due.
THE WORLD’S DEBT TO DARWIN.
By EDWIN G. CONKLIN.
(Read February 5, 1909.)
For centuries science has been engaged in glorifying the com-
monplace, in showing that natural phenomena are due to natural
causes, and that the most stupendous as well as the most subtle
phenomena, removed from us perhaps by almost an eternity of time
and space, are but manifestations of continuous natural processes,
which we may see and study for ourselves in the common phenomena
of our daily lives. At every step in this progress science has had
to tend with intrenched supernaturalism ; in the beginning every
hi ing, even the most trivial, was ascribed to some supernatural
¢ _ ,; to our ancestors it was self-evident that extraordinary occur-
rences required extraordinary causes, and that natural causes were
wholly inadequate to accomplish great results. But step by step,
before advancing knowledge of nature, supernaturalism retired from
the plane of ordinary phenomena until she dwelt only in the misty
mountain tops of origins, beginnings, creations; and day by day
there was a growing respect for nature and her powers.
In this warfare of science with tradition there have been crises,
turning points, no less important for mankind than any which are
associated with the rise and fall of nations; such a crisis was reached
when astronomy was emancipated from the thralldom of super-
naturalism by Newton and Laplace; when geology was freed by
Hutton and Lyell from the absurd cataclysmal theory, which vir-
tually taught that age after age the creator, experimenting at world
building, found the results not good, and so wiped them out and
began again; but probably no similar crisis has had so profound an
effect upon mankind as that revolution in our notions of the genesis
of the living world which we associate preeminently with the name
of Charles Darwin.
LUUVI
1909.] CONKLIN—THE WORLD’S DEBT TO DARWIN. HULL
L
Without doubt the greatest scientific generalization of the past
century is the theory of organic evolution. The only other which
can be compared with it, the doctrine of the conservation of energy,
has not so profoundly influenced human life nor so greatly changed
all the currents of human thought. Evolution has not only trans-
formed biology, psychology, sociology, anthropology and geology,
but it has given a new point of view to all science, art, and even
religion. “The great theory of evolution,’ said John Fiske, “is
rapidly causing us to modify our opinions on all subjects what-
soever.”’
Though many forerunners of this theory may be found in former
centuries, its establishment upon a scientific basis belongs to the
nineteenth century. How general the feeling is that evolution, is
the greatest scientific principle of modern times, and how al Sst
universally its establishment is identified with a single man ° | a
single book, is shown by the remarkable symposium which app q
in one of our magazines a few years ago.t Ten men, selectec _
their eminence in literature and education, were asked to give tieir
opinions as to the most influential books of the nineteenth century.
No one of these men was by training or profession a biologist, with
the exception of one psychologist no one of them was especially
identified with any natural science, and yet the only book of the
century upon which all ten agreed was Darwin’s “Origin of
Species,”
The doctrine of descent is so wholly in accord with the facts
of biology, and indeed of all sciences; it is so reasonable and simple
that one can scarcely believe that it had few adherents until after
the middle of the last century. Yet the evolutionary speculations
of the “ Naturphilosophen,” and even the more scientific hypotheses
of Buffon, Lamarck and St. Hilaire in the first quarter of the cen-
tury produced, on the whole, an unfavorable impression upon
naturalists, and up to the year 1859 the problem of the origin of
species, their relationships to one another, their geographical and
geological distribution, was regarded as the “ mystery of mysteries,”
* Outlook, December I, 1900.
al THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [February 5,
perhaps only solvable by the miracle of special and supernatural
creation. Darwin wrote in his autobiography:
It has sometimes been said that the success of the “ Origin” proved
“that the subject was in the air,’ or “that men’s minds were prepared for
it.’ I do not think that this is strictly true, for I occasionally sounded not a
few naturalists, and never happened to come across a single one who seemed
to doubt about the permanence of species.
In 1844 he wrote to Hooker:
I have been now, ever since my return (from the voyage round the
world), engaged in a very presumptious work, and I know not one indi-
vidual who would not say a very foolish one. I was so struck with the
distribution of the Galapagos organisms, etc., and with the character of the
American mammifers, etc., that I determined to collect blindly every sort of
fact which could bear in any way on what are called species. I have read
heaps of agricultural and horticultural books and have never ceased col-
lecting facts. At last gleams of light have come, and I am almost convinced
(quite contrary to the opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like
confessing a murder) immutable. Heaven forfend me from Lamarck’s
nonsense of a “tendency to progression,’ “adaptation through the slow
willing of animals,” ete.! But the conclusions I am led to are not widely
different from his, though the means of change are wholly so. I think I have
found out (here’s presumption) the simple way in which species become
exquisitely adapted to various ends. You will now groan and think to
yourself, ““on what a man I have been wasting my time and writing to.”
I should five years ago have thought so.
This single extract reveals the general opinions of naturalists
on the subject of species before the publication of Darwin’s work.
We should never forget that in spite of all the theories and specu-
lations on evolution which preceded Darwin it was still commonly
believed before 1859 that species had arisen by supernatural crea-
tion, that the question of their origin was not therefore a scientific
problem, but that it was the one great exception to the reign of
natural causes in the natural world. It detracts nothing from Dar-
win’s preeminent services to say that he was not the first to pro-
pose the doctrine of the evolution of species. What is much more
important is that he was the first to establish it; he brought a dead
speculation to life and gave it scientific standing, so that it is now
accepted by practically everybody, and in all justice the credit of
this greatest intellectual achievement of the past century belongs
to him. The world-wide difference between Darwin and his pre-
1909.] CONKLIN—THE WORLD’S DEBT TO DARWIN. xl
decessors lay in the simple but all-important matter of evidence.
They had proposed more or less possible and more or less reason-
able hypotheses, but these failed of general acceptance for lack of
evidence. Darwin brought to bear on the problem his great power
and range of observation; he collected in his books such vast
stores of facts bearing on his problem, that they are today the
wonder and admiration of scholars; in masterly manner he coor-
dinated the scattered and diverse evidence drawn from botany,
zoology, morphology, physiology, embryology, ecology, palontol-
ogy, geology, agriculture, horticulture and animal breeding, and he
presented the evidence with such force of logic, such clearness of
exposition, such judicial candor, that he finally and forever over-
threw the dogma of immutability of species and their special crea-
tion, and established in its place the doctrine of evolution.
The effect and influence of this work can scarcely be overesti-
mated. Once Darwin had rendered acceptable to naturalists the
doctrine of organic descent with modifications, it was found that it
gave new meaning to the whole science of biology. Like a magic
formula it solved the age-long problems of classification, affinity,
good and bad species, aberrant and synthetic types; by it the mys-
teries of geographical and geological distribution were explained ;
by its guidance the records of the ancient world, as preserved in the
rocks, were deciphered and correlated and missing links between
many great groups of organisms found; in its light the history of
the development of the individual from the egg acquired new sig-
nificance. Physiology and psychology, no less than morphology,
have felt its transforming touch, and not least among its results
have been its revelations as to the nature, origin and relationships
of man.
These stupendous results do not represent merely the frenzy
of a new enthusiasm. There have been, of course, assertions which
outran evidence, and skepticism which denied all evidence, but in
spite of these excesses every year since 1859 has contributed in ever
increasing measure to the more complete establishment of the doc-
trine of descent and to the wider extension of this theory into every
field of human thought and endeavor.
The world’s greatest debt to Darwin is for the work which he
ahi THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [February 5,
did in establishing the theory of organic evolution, and this year
marks not only the centenary of the birth of Darwin, but also the
semicentennial of the publication of his greatest book, the “ Origin
of Species,’ which did more to establish that theory than any other
book ever published. But it should not be forgotten that the world
is indebted to him for much besides this. Darwin was one of the
last of the great naturalists. He was the most painstaking and
accurate observer and experimenter and he contributed largely to
knowledge in several branches of science. He was a geologist
of note and his works on volcanic islands and on the origin of coral
islands alone would have given him a high place among geologists.
He was a distinguished botanist and his studies on the fertiliza-
tion of orchids, cross and self fertilization in the vegetable kingdom,
insectivorous plants, climbing plants and the power of movement
in plants, laid broad and deep the foundations for the study of
physiological processes. He was a great zoologist, as his volumes
on the zodlogy of the expedition of the “ Beagle,” on recent and
fossil Cirripedia, on the activities of earthworms, and on the varia-
tions of animals and plants, testify. His work on the “ Descent of
Man” shows the value of his contributions to the science of anthro-
pology, and I have been told by psychologists that his volume on
the “Expression of the Emotions” is one of the best and most
fundamental of all works on this subject. Altogether he published
twenty-two books (thirty-three, counting second and subsequent
editions) and eighty-two papers and contributions. These state-
ments indicate how broad was his mind, and how much of fact
he contributed to science.
i.
Undoubtedly Darwin’s most distinctive and important contribu-
tion to organic evolution is his theory of natural selection, or what
has been generously, but unfortunately named “ Darwinism.”
Although this was the chief corner stone in Darwin’s evolutionary
philosophy, it was not the only stone in that structure, as is the
case with some of his followers. Darwin was broader than “ Dar-
winism.” He recognized more than this one factor of evolution,
though he always believed natural selection to be the chief one.
1909.] CONKLIN—THE WORLD’S DEBT TO DARWIN. alin
I need not repeat here how Darwin was led to adopt this theory;
how he found that selection on the part of the breeder was the
factor which determined the course of transformation in domestic
animals and plants; how, in his search for a similar factor in nature,
the essay of Malthus on population suggested to him the elimina-
tion of the unfit and the preservation of favored races in the struggle
for life; how for twenty years he had been developing this idea,
when he received from Wallace, then in the Malay Archipelago, an
essay on the same subject, and how this essay together with Dar-
win’s sketch of his theory were presented simultaneously to the
Linnzan Society on July 1, 1858—all this is now familiar history.
It may not be so well known that at the semicentennial of the pub-
lication of these essays, held last July, Wallace, who was present,
said that he had been given much more than his due in being called
the codiscoverer with Darwin of natural selection, and that his share
in the discovery should be proportional to the length of time which
each had devoted to the subject, 7. e., about as one week is to
twenty years.
Probably no scientific theory has been so widely and so fully
discussed as has natural selection. On the one hand were those
who, like Wallace and Weismann, maintained that it was the only
and the all-sufficient factor of organic evolution; on the other hand
were many who either denied that it was any factor at all, or who
ascribed to it only a minor role. It was the ill fortune of the theory
to have aroused profound theological opposition, which gave to the
discussion an intense controversial aspect and which prevented a
calm and unprejudiced judgment of the theory. Furthermore, the
character of the theory itself invited discussion. It was based upon
principles so general and familiar that everyone felt free and com-
petent to discuss it, and as it was difficult to subject it to demonstra-
tive proof it freed biologists as well as laymen from such uncom-
fortable restraints, and left much room for mere inference and
speculation. Scientific principles are not established by dialectics
and while this whole discussion has been immensely educative, it is
doubtful whether its scientific results have been commensurate with
the time and effort it has consumed. It is probable that the intense
antagonism to the theory, chiefly on the part of men who were not
xliv THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [February 5,
scientists, led to the exaggeration of the evidence for it and the
minimizing of the difficulties to be explained. Certain it is that
there has been much dogmatism on the subject, an over-confidence
in certain hypotheses, and a general lack of scientific caution, which
has led biology astray in some instances and has caused persons who
are not biologists to accept insecure hypotheses as foundations for
more elaborate specualtions; this is especially true in the fields of
sociology and psychology. Dogmatism always begets skepticism
and we need not be surprised to find that in recent times a few
biologists have totally rejected natural selection as a factor of evolu-
tion. But I think we may be surprised at the intensity of feeling
and the wholly intemperate attacks of some of the younger biologists
upon this theory, and especially is this true in view of the fact that
Darwin himself always avoided controversy and was one of the
kindest and gentlest of men. Unfortunately the lack of judicial
calm is quite as noticeable in these later attacks as in the earlier and
less scientific ones.
Dennert says:
Darwinism belongs to the past, we are standing at its death bed, and its
friends are preparing to give it a decent burial.
Driesch also, with more scientific authority, but with no less
spleen, says:
Darwinism now belongs to history; like that other curiosity of our
century, the Hegelian philosophy; both are variations on the theme: how
one manages to lead a whole generation by the nose.
He calls it a new kind of religion, which would have done honor
to Mohammed, and speaks of the softening of the brain of Dar-
winians. More recently, however, when Driesch addressed an Eng-
lish-speaking audience at Aberdeen, he was much more dignified and
conciliatory and said, “ Certainly natural selection is a vera causa”
but he argues that it is a negative, an eliminating factor, and not a
creative one.
It is surprising how persistent is the misunderstanding of natural
selection, which is implied in this statement. The term “ natural
selection’ was chosen, as Darwin says, because of its supposed re-
semblance to artificial selection, but it was so frequently misunder-
stood that he would have liked, if possible to have changed it to
1909. ] CONKLIN—THE WORLD’S DEBT TO DARWIN. axlv
“natural elimination,’ but he fondly hoped that in time everyone
would come to understand it. Over and over again he recognized
that natural selection was a negative, an eliminating factor. He
never held that it was anything more than a sieve, as De Vries puts
it, to sort out favorable from unfavorble variations.
The only difference of opinion between Darwinians and anti-
Darwinians at present is a purely quantitative one as to the amount
of value to be assigned to natural selection. It is perfectly evident
that organisms which cannot live must die, and that those which are
severely handicapped must, on the whole, perish sooner than those
which are not so handicapped. No naturalist will question the fact
that many ill-adapted forms are eliminated before they can leave
offspring. The real question at issue is whether this elimination is
severe enough to weed out all but the most favorable variations, as
Darwinians generally assume, or whether it weeds out only the
least favorable variations, as anti-Darwinians claim. If variations
occur in all directions, as Darwin believed, natural selection must
eliminate more than half of these in order to be a truly directive
factor in evolution; and the less severe the elimination is the less
directive is this factor. This may be illustrated by a diagram of a
radiating figure in which the center of the figure represents the
norm of a species from which lines, representing variations, proceed
in all directions. If natural selection, or elimination, be represented
by portions of a circle inclosing this figure and blocking the radii,
then one quarter of the circle will block approximately one quarter
of the radii; a semicircle, one half of the radii; three quarters of
the circle, three quarters of the radii; and in general the more com-
pletely the circle (natural selection) blocks the radii (variations) the
more directive it becomes. Many recent studies indicate that the
elimination due to natural selection is not so extensive as Darwin
and his followers believed, and that therefore it is not so important
a factor in directing the course of evolution as they supposed. That
Darwin himself was much impressed by some such consideration is
shown by the statement made in his later works that he thought the
most serious mistake which he had made was in attributing too
much influence to natural selection, and too little to the inherited
effects of environment and of use and disuse upon organisms.
xlvi THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [February 5,
bf
Natural selection, or ‘ Darwinism,” is usually spoken of as if it
were the only factor of evolution which Darwin recognized. As a
matter of fact only three chapters of the “Origin of Species”
were devoted primarily to this subject, whereas three were devoted
to variation and its laws, and his great work on the “ Variations of
Animals and Plants,” which he omitted from the “ Origin ”’ merely
to make the latter a shorter and more readable account, occupies two
large volumes. It is particularly unjust and untrue to say that Dar-
win’s theory of evolution recognized only the negative factor of
elimination. In reading the criticisms of Darwin’s theory one
cannot fail to be impressed with the fact that many of the critics
do not know Darwin’s works. Let us hope that one of the results
of the Darwin anniversaries which are being held this year through-
out the civilized world will be to induce people generally, and the
critics in particular, to read and re-read Darwin’s books.
I confess that every time I look into his books it is with some
new feeling of surprise and admiration. How thoroughly modern
they are in most things! Apparently they might have been written
after the promulgation of Neo-Lamarckism, Neo-Darwinism, muta-
tion, orthogenesis and other modern theories, and one feels inclined
again and again to look critically at the date of the book. It is an
interesting fact that most of the objections which have been ad-
vanced in recent years to the Darwinian factors, were considered at
length by Darwin in later editions of the “ Origin,” and it is amusing
to read these modern objections and then find the answers to them
given by Darwin himself in calm, judicial and convincing manner.
One who knows Darwin’s works can understand and in a measure
sympathize with the enthusiasm of Emerson for Plato, when he
said, “In Plato are all things, whether written or thought.”
The positive side of Darwin’s theory, and indeed of every other
theory of evolution, is the variability of organisms, and the principal
question which confronted him, as it confronts every evolutionist
today, was this—‘‘ What is the nature and what are the causes of
variation?’ Darwin devoted many years of intense labor to the
study of this problem and in his many volumes he brought together
a larger amount of information on this subject than has ever been
collected by any one man before or since. He concluded that the
1909.] CONKLIN—THE WORLD’S DEBT TO DARWIN. alvir
causes of variation are in the main these: (1) The influence of the
environment and of changed conditions of life (2), the effects of the
use and disuse of parts, (3) the organic correlation of one varia-
tion with another so that the two necessarily arise together. Again
and again he asserts as one of his principal conclusions, which he
makes especially emphatic by placing it at the head of certain
chapters, that “variability of every kind is due to changed condi-
tions of life.’ He considered the value of sports, or what De Vries
calls ‘“ mutations,” in the production of new races, and he decided
that their value was not usually very great. He considered the
question as to whether variations occur in every direction, or prin-
cipally in one, whether they are multifarous or unifarous, and he
concluded on the whole that the evidence was chiefly favorable to
the former view.
It is in these three directions that our knowledge of the origin
of variations has made the greatest advance within recent years,
viz., (1) The effects of the conditions of life in producing new races,
(2) the value of sudden sports or mutations, (3) the question
whether variations are fluctuating or definitely directed. All of
these factors were considered by Darwin and to the first he assigned
great importance; and if the evidences now to be had show that the
second and third factors named are more important than he sup-
posed, they do not fundamentally nor seriously change his theory.
In some quarters there is a tendency to hail the mutation theory of
De Vries and the orthogenesis theory of Eimer and Whitman as
antagonistic to the Darwinian theory, but there is absolutely no
reason why all of these factors may not coexist harmoniously. Both
De Vries and Whitman hold that natural selection is a factor, and
an important one, in the evolution of organisms, and if the theories
of mutations or orthogenesis shall prove to be well founded, the
whole problem of evolution will be immensely simplified and the
greatest objections to the Darwinian theory will disappear, viz.,
(1) The lack of sufficient time for evolution, (2) the paleonto-
logical evidence that evolution has been in directed lines, (3) the
inutility of many specific characters, (4) the complete disappear-
ance of many rudimentary organs, (5) the harmonious coadapta
tion of parts.
alvirt THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [February 5,
IIT.
Darwin’s theory of evolution includes much more than the doc-
trine of descent; it attempts to explain by natural causes the won-
derful and exquisite adaptations of organisms to their conditions
of life. The deepest and most mysterious problems of biology do
not center in the structure of organisms, nor in their functions, nor
even in their oigin, but in their fitness. Everywhere the universe
is a cosmos and not a chaos; “ Order is heaven’s first law;” but this
order is especially evident in the organic world. The subject of
organic adaptations is undoubtedly a dangerous one for the scientist,
full of pitfalls for the unwary and with many alluring calls to meta-
physical speculation, but it is a subject which lies in the background
of every biological problem. “Life is,” as Professor Brooks taught,
“response to the order of nature,” and it is the element of useful,
apparently purposive, response, which more than anything else
distinguishes the living from the lifeless, and separates the methods
of biology from those of chemistry and physics. Indeed Herbert
Spencer defined life as “ continuous adjustment of internal relations
to external relations”; lack of such adjustment invariably leading
to death.
One cannot speak of any organ or tissue of an animal or plant
without illustrating such adjustment. Consider the fitness of the
skeleton for support, of the muscles for contraction, of the alimen-
tary system for digestion and absorption, of the heart with its valves
for pumping and the blood vessels for circulating blood. Consider
the truly remarkable contrivances for insuring cross-fertilization in
animals and plants and for the protection and nourishment of the
young. Consider the fitness of the nervous system for receiving
and transmitting stimuli; the fitness of the eye for seeing, of the
ear for hearing, of the tongue for tasting. Think of the fitness of
every organ for its particular use, and then consider the peculiar
fitness with which these organs are coordinated into an harmonious
whole. Viewed in this light, ‘‘ What a piece of work is man,” or
any other organism!
Such adaptations to general conditions of existence are so com-
mon that to most persons they do not seem remarkable, while some
peculiar adaptation, such as the leaf insect, or the Venus fly-trap,
1909.] CONKLIN—THE WORLD’S DEBT TO DARWIN. alia
seems wonderful simply because it is not common. Many of these
more uncommon adaptations have played an important part in the
discussions of the various theories of evolution which have been
advanced during the past century. As illustrations of adaptations
to particular conditions of life may be mentioned the fitness of
horses’ limbs for running, those of seals for swimming, those of
birds for flight. Innumerable adaptations are found, also, among
animals and plants, for offense and defense, such as the sting of
the bee, the poison of serpents, the tusks, horns and armor of many
animals, the well-known structures and habits of the porcupine, the
rattlesnake, the opossum and the skunk. Again many animals, such
as the stick insect and the dead-leaf butterfly, are so like the objects
upon which they are commonly found that it is difficult to detect
them even when searching for them.
The ability which many eggs, embryos and adults have of restor-
ing lost parts, and in general of resuming the typical form after
injury constitutes another class of fitness which is of the greatest
interest. Most remarkable also are the adaptations which certain
organisms show to desiccation, to extremes of temperature and to
various poisons. In particular the adaptations of organisms to
bacterial poisons and to snake venom, where every kind of poison
leads to the formation of a particular kind of anti-body which coun-
teracts the poison, are among the most surprising known.
The list of such fitnesses it well-nigh endless and the question
of their origin forms one of the most striking and fundamental
problems of biology. How have lowly organisms learned to utilize
processes of chemistry and physics so subtle that intelligent man
only after centuries of civilization has come only to the place where
he can appreciate these processes but cannot duplicate them?
Innumerable attempts have been made both by philosophers and
biologists to find a natural explanation of this fundamental phenom-
enon of life. One need only enumerate the
of Aristotle, the “active teleological principle” of Kant, Lamarck-
“ ente-
‘
‘perfecting principle ”
ism, Darwinism, several kinds of selection, and finally the
lechy ” of Driesch to indicate over what a field these explanations
have ranged.
If for the present we disregard those views which really attempt
PROv. AMER, PHIL. SOC. XLVIII. I9I1 D*, PRINTED JULY 7, 1909.
l THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [February 5,
no causal explanation, but merely restate the mystery in terms of
perfecting principles or entelechies, and those which find the causes
of adaptations in unknown laws of variation, there remain two
attempted explanations of organic fitness which may be known by
the general terms of Lamarckism and Darwinism. Lamarckism is
a theory which attempts to explain racial adaptations as the result
of the inheritance of individual, acquired adaptations. It is well
known that extrinsic and intrinsic changes frequently produce adap-
tive modifications in organisms, and Lamarckism maintains that
these individual, somatic modifications are ultimately inherited and
that in this way adaptations, characteristic of a race or species,
arise. Thus all inherent or germinal adaptations are supposed to
be derived from acquired or somatic ones. How these individual
somatic adaptations arise in the first place Lamarckism does not
undertake to explain; the adaptive character of the response of an
organism to its environment, to use and disuse, and to its needs,
remains as much of a mystery as ever. As we know Darwin be-
lieved that some individual adaptations, especially those which
resulted from the use or disuse of parts, might be inherited and thus
become racial or specific. This theory if true would afford a good
explanation of inherited adaptedness; unfortunately there is no evi-
dence that such acquired adaptations are regularly inherited. For
years this evidence has been earnestly sought but no such confirma-
tions have been found as would certainly have been the case if this
kind of inheritance were at all common.
Modern Darwinism, on the other hand, rejects the possibility of
the inheritance of such acquired adaptations, and maintains that
there is no genetic connection between acquired and inherent fitness.
It maintains that all adaptations are due to multifarous variations
among offspring and the elimination by natural selection of those
which are poorly adapted. All adaptations which are for the good
of the species rather than of the individual, admit of no other nat-
ural explanation; such adaptations could not have arisen from adap-
tations acquired by an individual as Lamarckians assume, since they
benefit the species at the expense of the individual. Darwin showed
in masterly manner that the continual elimination of the unfit and
the preservation of favored races would gradually improve the stan-
1909.] CONKLIN—THE WORLD’S DEBT TO DARWIN. li
dard of fitness until such exquisite adaptations as are found, for
example, in the case of the eye might be reached; many persons
now doubt the omnipotence of selection, but if to natural selection
there be added some such factors as orthogenesis or mutations most
of the inherited adaptedness of animals and plants may be so ex-
plained. This seems to me to be the crowning feature of Darwin’s
great theory; it is not so much its species-forming power which
impresses me as its ability to explain on simple and natural prin-
ciples very many of the wonderful adaptations of the living world.
On the other hand it must be admitted that there is one entire
class of adaptations which natural selection, as held by Darwin, is
unable to explain. Neither Darwinism, Lamarckism, nor any other
mechanical explanation hitherto proposed is able to explain satis-
factorily all the equally wonderful acquired, individual, or somatic
adaptations of organisms. All scientific theories of evolution hold
that racial adaptations are due to experience ; Lamarkism, that they
are the directly inherited effects of individual experience ; Darwin-
ism, that they are the indirect results of experience, through the
presentation of many variants to the action of selection and the sur-
vival of the best adapted. Neither of these theories could explain
sudden adaptations to conditions never experienced before; and
yet some individual adaptations are apparently of this sort. Bear
with me while I mention some of these cases which have been held
by several recent writers to be fatal to Darwinism. It has been
found that if the lens of the eye of a newt is removed it will be
regenerated perfectly within a few weeks. Now it may be assumed
that such an injury as this, involving as it does a very delicate sur-
gical operation, never took place in nature, and yet pure Darwinism
can explain this regeneration only by the supposition that the loss of
the lens has taken place so frequently among the ancestors of present
newts that they are perfectly adapted to this injury. Again the
eggs, embryos or adults of many animals may be cut or broken into
fragments or otherwise injured in such ways as could never have
occurred in nature, and yet these fragments will in many cases give
rise to perfect animals, “as if the pattern of the whole existed in
every part.” This power of regeneration cannot be the result of
past experience, since there is no constant relation between it and
lit THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [February 5,
liability to injury. Other contingent, individual adaptations of a
still more striking kind are found in the acclimatization of organisms
to certain poisons, particularly bacterial poisons and snake venom.
It has been shown that, as an antidote to these toxins, various anti-
toxins are formed, and for every toxin, or at least for every tox-
albumen its own particular anti-body. Now many of these poisons
are of such a sort that it is perfectly certain that the immediate
ancestors of the forms poisoned could never have experienced them,
and yet the response is as perfect as it could be if it had been due
to long experience. Many other similar cases might be cited if
time allowed, but these are enough. The apparently intelligent and
purposive response of an organism to a stimulus or environment
which it has never experienced before is one of the most mysterious
and fundamental problems of biology.
There are, therefore, adaptations which neither Lamarckism nor
Darwinism nor any other system so far proposed can explain satis-
factorily, and this has led several biologists, notably Wolff and
Driesch, to the conclusion that these theories “ fail all along the
line.” But this conclusion appears to me hasty and extreme. There
are many adaptations, as we have seen, which may be beautifully
explained by the Darwinian theory, viz., all racial or inherent adap-
tations which are not first called forth by the contingent stimulus to
which they are the appropriate and useful response. On the other
hand adaptations of the latter sort are problems of physiology rather
than of phylogeny. One of the greatest needs of biology is for
more detailed and accurate information regarding them; we must
know exactly what happens in each case, the physiology of the
response irrespective of its usefulness, and then perhaps the latter
may find an explanation. It is certainly premature to abandon
hope of finding a natural and causal explanation of such phenomena,
as Driesch and Wolff do, before we are really acquainted with the
phenomena themselves.
Some of these contingent adaptations probably belong to the
fundamental and original properties of living things and as such
are not to be explained by any theory of evolution; for it must not
be forgotten that organic evolution is a theory of transmutation
which undertakes primarily to explain the diversity which exists
1909.] CONKLIN—THE WORLD’S DEBT TO DARWIN. lia
in the living world, but not the original properties of life. It under-
takes to explain the various forms of adaptations found in the living
world, but not protoplasmic adaptability. If life is “ continuous
adjustment of internal relations to external relations,” as Herbert
Spencer held, then life is adaptability, and it would be unreasonable
to demand that any theory of organic evolution should explain the
origin of this.
It may be that regulation or regeneration is one of the funda-
mental physiological properties of living things and that it belongs
in the same category with assimilation, growth, metabolism, repro-
duction and irritability, properties which are found in the lowest
organisms as well as the highest, and which can therefore be left
out of the list of those things which evolution may reasonably be
expected to explain.
On the other hand it seems possible that many contingent, indi-
vidual adaptations may find a natural explanation in the further
extension of the selection principle to the physiological responses
of organisms and to the more elementary parts of which their bodies
are composed. If to the natural selection of Darwin (‘ personal
selection”) there be added some such principles as the struggle of
the parts (“histonal selection’’) of Roux, the “ germinal selection ”
of Weismann and the method of “trial and error” of Jennings,
many adaptations, otherwise inexplicable may find a natural expla-
nation. Weismann’s views have been frequently condemned because
of their highly speculative character, but it cannot be denied that he
has shown profound insight into the most fundamental problems of
biology, and in many instances he has seen his speculations verified
by subsequent research. Ina masterly series of works Jennings has
proved that the adaptations shown in the behavior of many lower
organisms may be reduced to the simple principle of “trial and
error,” or the rejection of unfavorable motor responses; in this way
aparently purposive behavior, which Binnet supposed to be due to
‘
the relatively complex “psychic life of microdrganisms” has been
shown to be due to a few simple motor reflexes, which are repeated
indefinitely until they bring the organism into a favorable environ-
ment. Darwin himself suggested this explanation of the appar-
ently intelligent behavior of the earthworm, and Jennings has shown
lw THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [February 5,
that it is applicable to the behavior of a large number of animals.
This principle of “trial and error” is in reality the rejection or
elimination of unfit responses during the individual life of an
organism, and if a similar principle should be found to be applicable
to other physiological processes it would probably explain in equally
simple manner many apparently purposive responses which are at
present inexplicable. Thus the simple principle of the elimination
of the unfit, whether of individuals, or of parts of individuals, or
of physiological responses, would offer a possible and natural expla-
nation of the almost universal occurrence of fitness in the living
world.
But whether the Darwinian theory is capable of explaining all
the fitnesses of organisms or not, it does succeed, as no other theory
does, in offering a natural and causal explanation of very many of
these wonderful phenomena. The development of particular struc-
tures and functions to meet particular conditions of life, such as
organs of locomotion, sensation, digestion and reproduction; organs
and instincts of protection, offense and defense; and all the multi-
tudes of diverse forms and ways in which organisms are fitted to
carry on the fundamental properties of life amidst the most varied
conditions—these diversities we may reasonably expect a theory of
evolution to explain, and it is the crowning glory of Darwin’s theory
that it is, on the whole, able to explain them.
IW
This is a brief review of Darwin’s most important work. Some
of his generalizations have been and still are of the greatest impor-
tance, others were of less value and have since been abandoned. In
this respect his work is not unlike that of other scientists, and yet
we all recognize that Darwin occupies a unique position in biology ;
that indeed he stands almost alone in the greatness of his influence
on the world, and that his name can be properly associated only with
that of Sir Isaac Newton, by whose side he lies in Westminster
Abbey, and with two or three others in the whole history of science.
What is the secret of the tremendous influence which Darwin
has had upon the entire world? He was of course a remarkable
man, remarkably well prepared for a supremely great work. Keen
1909. ] CONKLIN—THE WORLD’S DEBT TO DARWIN. lv
observer of nature in many lands, gifted with unusual ability in col-
lecting, weighing and systematizing facts, endowed with a fertile
imagination and with great powers of generalization, and yet cau-
tious, slow in reaching conclusions, honest beyond all others, a man
who worked every day of his life to the limit of his strength—none
like him had ever before grappled with the mysteries of creation.
But apart from his own peculiar fitness for this work Darwin
was unusually fortunate in his opportunity and his environment.
The world was ready for him. Lamarck, St. Hilaire, Mendel ad-
dressed a world not ready to receive their messages. But in 1859
the need of some natural explanation of the origin of species was
keenly felt and many naturalists were groping in the dark for some
rational solution of this problem. In his autobiography Darwin
says in explaining the success of the “ Origin of Species”’:
What I believe is strictly true is that innumerable well-observed facts
were stored in the minds of naturalists ready to take their proper places
as soon as any theory which would receive them was sufficiently explained.
The problem itself was one of the greatest which had ever been
raised in the history of science. Step by step miraculous inter-
vention in nature had been eliminated and supernaturalism had been
driven from astronomy and geology and embryology and had taken
its last great stand on the special creation of species and the super-
natural origin of adaptations. To many people evolution seemed to
be an atheistic attempt “to drive God entirely out of his universe.”
It presumed to determine man’s place in nature, and many believed
that if man were descended from the beasts which perish he could
not be a son of God. It has been said that there are two subjects
in which all people are interested—theology and politics. Evolu-
tion certainly caused a disturbance in theology and it accordingly
came as a shock to all Christendom. The necessity of defending it
before the public converted scientists into controversialists, and
probably no scientific theory before or since ever received so much
popular attention.
Again Darwin owed very much to his friends, especially to Lyell,
Hooker, Huxley and Asa Gray. The idea of fighting for his theory
seems to have come to him only gradually after the first shock of the
lui THE DARWIN CENTENARY. [February 5,
brutal assaults upon it. Six months after the publication of the
“ Origin ” he wrote to Hooker:
I look at their attacks as proof that our work is worth the doing. It
makes me resolve to buckle on my armor. I see plainly that it will be a
long uphill fight. But think of Lyell’s progress with geology. One thing
I see most plainly, that without Lyell’s, yours, Huxley’s and Carpenter’s aid,
my book would have been a mere flash in the pan. But if we all stick to it
we shall surely gain the day. And I now see that the battle is worth fighting.
Many a discovery, like that of Mendel, is launched meekly and
modestly into the world, to sink to oblivion or to be lost from sight,
only to be rediscovered at some future time. Not so with a militant
truth; it challenges and demands attention, and in the case of Dar-
win’s theory it richly deserved it.
Next to his friends Darwin owed most to his enemies; the
attacks upon him and his theory were so violent, so brutal, so out
of reason, that his own sane, calm and absolutely honest course
shone with all the more luster. To these unreasonable attacks and
to the same reaction which was bound to follow, Darwin, as well
as his great contemporary Lincoln, owed very much.
But wholly apart from these circumstances which contributed
only temporarily to his reputation and influence, Darwin stands as
one of the leaders of science for the great work which he did; work
_ of lasting value which has not yet been outgrown and which can
never be forgotten. He stands as a leader in science because of the
methods of his work; he was so broad and science has since become
so specialized that we can never hope to see his like again; he was
so honest in dealing with objections to his theories and so sane in
judgment that he was never carried away by his own enthusiasm;
above all he was so patient in his work that his example may be
especially commended to this impatient age; on every one of his
principal works he spent from five to twenty years of the hardest
labor of which he was capable, and it is not to be wondered at that
this work has lasting value. Charles Darwin stands today and will
continue to stand for years to come as one of the most impressive
and influential figures in human history.
Mr. President: I beg leave to introduce the following minute:
On this hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin,
1909.] CONKLIN—THE WORLD’S DEBT TO DARWIN. vit
the American Philosophical Society, in common with learned socie-
ties throughout the world, desires to record its high appreciation
of this illustrious man and of his inestimable services to science and
to the entire intellectual world; it recalls with satisfaction that he
was for thirteen years before his death a member of this society,
having been elected in 1869; that his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin,
was also a member; that his son, Sir George Darwin, is a member of
this society, and that on the occasion of the bicentennial celebration
of the birth of Franklin, our founder, he was present as the bearer
of fraternal greetings from the University of Cambridge, the
Royal Society, the Royal Institution of Great Britain, and the
British Association for the Advancement of Science; and that by
his scientific addresses on that occasion, as well as by his presenta-
tion of Medalions of Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood,
grandfathers of Charles Darwin, he strengthened the bonds which
connect the American Philosophical Society with the immortal name
of Darwin.
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY.
RICHARD ALEXANDER FULLERTON PENROSE,
NDE EE:
(Read January 15, 1909.)
Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose, son of the Honorable
Charles Bingham Penrose and his wife, Valeria Fullerton Biddle,
was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the 24th of March, 1827. He
was graduated in 1846 at Dickinson College, where he received also
the degree of doctor of laws in 1872. After completing his college
course, he entered the Medical Department of the University of
Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1849. From 1851 until 1853 he
was resident physician at the Pennsylvania Hospital; in 1853 he
became physician to the Southern Home for Children, and in 1854
consulting physician at the Philadelphia Hospital. He was one
of those who secured the opening of the wards of the hospital for
instruction. He delivered clinical lectures there on diseases of
women and children. He also lectured on obstetrics in the Phila-
delphia School of Medicine, being associated with Da Costa, Agnew,
Darrach and Hewson. In 1856 he was one of the founders of the
Children’s Hospital, and contributed to it time, energy and money.
With Levick and Hunt he founded a successful and a very profit-
able quiz association.
In 1863 the trustees of the University of Pennsylvania elected
him to the professorship of obstetrics and diseases of women and
children, made vacant by the resignation of Dr. Hugh L. Hodge.
He occupied the chair until 1889, when he voluntarily retired from
the position, and at the same time gave up active practice.
It was as a medical teacher that Doctor Penrose was known.
It was his life work. As he acquitted himself in his chosen field
he should be judged. It is by this standard he himself would wish
to be judged. In estimating his success we must remember the limi-
tations imposed upon him. Medical education in America was in a
stage of development so different in his time from the present that
lvitt
OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED. lix
it is difficult even for those of us who have witnessed its evolution,
to realize its crudity and provincialism. Our medical schools were
mainly proprietary institutions conducted for financial profit.
Laboratory facilities, clinical material and individual instruction
were either lacking altogether, as in the department of obstetrics, or
were just beginning to be provided in the other two principal sub-
jects of a medical course, medicine and surgery; but provided so
inadaquately that the student, obliged to go abroad to complete his
education, could not justly be surprised at the contempt with which
his medical diploma was regarded in Europe. The proprietors of
our medical schools were quite satisfied that they had fulfilled their
whole duty if they furnished a lecture room for a few hours a week
to the teachers of the most important subjects in the course. The
didactic lecture was the accepted method of medical teaching. Any-
thing else that was offered was subordinate to it. These were the
conditions in the very best of our schools and it was under these con-
ditions that Dr. Penrose was obliged to teach. The only means at
his command to prepare his students for their future responsibilities,
was the didactic lecture. But of this means he availed himself with
consummate ability.
It is no exaggeration to say that none of his contemporaries
made his lectures at the same time so instructive, entertaining, amus-
ing and useful. The most admirable quality of his art was the
vivid and lasting impression made upon his auditors.
Much as we admired the skill, the operative dexterity, the sound
judgment, and the great experience of Agnew, the profound erudi-
tion of Leidy, the brilliancy of William Pepper, all of Dr. Penrose’s
old students will bear me out in the assertion that today, twenty
years at least, after they were given, we remember his lectures more
distinctly than those of any of his colleagues.
In the swing of the pendulum from the old to the new methods
our present tendency is perhaps to neglect the didactic lecture too
much. It can be utilized with advantage still. The medical teacher
of today could not do better than to study the methods of a man
like Penrose who was obliged to concentrate all his ability on the
only means of teaching at his command.
His personal dignity, penetrating but kindly voice, exquisitely
le RICHARD ALEXANDER FULLERTON .PENROSE, M.D., LL.D.
keen sense of humor, poetic fancy and eloquence were inimitable.
But certain rules of the art might be learned by a study of Penrose’s
lectures. They were as carefully prepared as an actor studies his
part. Emphasis, inflection, gesture and expression received scrupu-
lously careful attention. A judicious admixture of the gay with
the grave relieved the tedium of an hour’s address. Each important
point was brought out in bold relief, sometimes by a certain circum-
locution in its introduction, often by an amusing anecdote, again
by unexpected antitheses or apparent paradoxes and occasionally
by moving his audience at one moment to roars of laughter and at
the next to a hushed and solemn silence.
I cannot confine myself, Mr. President, to a cold analysis of Dr.
Penrose’s qualities as a medical teacher. Many of his fellow mem-
bers in this venerable society were his personal friends and I am
proud to be numbered among them. They must expect to hear, as I
feel it my duty to pay, an inadequate tribute to the man himself.
His oldest brother was described as the “kind and amiable Pen-
rose.” The description is equally applicable to the younger brother.
He fairly radiated kindliness. A harsh, unkind or ungenerous
thought was absolutely foreign to his nature. He was affable, cour-
teous, cordial to all degrees of men; but a consciousness of dis-
tinction in birth, connections and position gave him an innate dignity
which forbade undue familiarity or lack of respect.
He had some odd and whimsical views on men and things,
giving his conversation a fascinating piquancy. In one of his
amiable foibles, he was like that most lovable character in fiction,
Colonel Newcome. His friends were perfection itself. He could
see no fault in them. His enthusiastic partisanship for people
he liked reminds one of Essex endeavoring to secure the attorney
generalship for his friend Bacon and saying to Sir Robert Cecil,
“T will spend all my power, might, authority and amity, and with
tooth and nail procure the same for him against whomsoever.”
An incident in our association illustrates what I mean. He had
determined to do all in his power to make me his successor. As
the first step in that direction he told me to prepare a lecture as
carefully as I could and to commit it to memory. When it was
ready I was given a letter dated two days later, ostensibly received
OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED. lav
just before his lecture hour, and reading, “I am unexpectedly
detained. Please inform the class. If they care to stop and listen
to you, you may use my hour.” I was instructed to enter the
room in apparent confusion, making the open letter in my hand
tremble; to mount the rostrum and after giving the class Dr. Pen-
rose’s message, to say in a hesitating voice, “If you are willing to
stay and hear me, I have a word or two to say on an interesting
subject.” “ They will stop to hear you,” said Doctor Penrose, “in
the expectation of seeing you make an exhibition of yourself.” His
little plot was carried out exactly as he had planned it. My lecture
was well received and Penrose was hugely delighted at its success.
I could give many more examples of characteristic kindnesses
to younger men whom he befriended with a bounteous generosity
that knew no stint.
There is no excuse for melancholy in contemplating such a
death as Penrose’s. Retiring in the full possession of his faculties
and in the enjoyment of an enviable reputation; at an age when
there was no premature retreat from the battle of life to an inglor-
ious ease, but when he had earned the right to repose; followed
into his retirement by the affectionate regard of hundreds of pupils
in all parts of the world; living a score of years in tranquillity and
peace; exceeding the allotted span of life by more than a decade;
surrounded by devoted friends and a loving family, I can imagine
no more dignified end of an honorable career. We can feel only
the sadness with which we, who were left behind, might view the
departure of a valued friend on a long and prosperous journey.
When we leave this mortal ark behind and answer “ Adsum”’ at
our last roll call, may our survivors say of us, what we can say
of our departed friend: “ the sweetest canticle is nunc dimittis, when
a man hath obtained worthy ends and expectations.”
Barton C. Hirst.
DANIEL COIT GILMAN, LL.D.
(Read February 19, 1909.)
Daniel Coit Gilman, the first President of the Johns Hepkins
University, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, July 6, 1831, of
native New England stock. His early education was obtained in
the town of his birth, until at the age of fourteen he removed to
New York. Three years later he entered Yale College where he
ranked well, though not among the highest, and was active in all
that concerned the literary and social life of the community.
Toward the end of his course he became interested in lexicography,
and after graduation spent a year at Harvard College with the idea
of preparing a new English dictionary. At Cambridge he lived in
the house of the geographer Guyot and was brought under the
influence of the elder Agassiz, an influence that materially affected
his plans for the future and shaped, to no small extent, his views on
education. From this time his interest in a dictionary began to give
way to the larger demands of literature and education, a change of
purpose that was rendered permanent by an opportunity, rarer in
those days than now, of enlarging the scope of his observation and
knowledge by means of foreign travel and of coming into contact
with the culture and experience of the old world. In 1853 he and
his college friend, Andrew D. White, were invited by Gov. Seymour
of Connecticut, recently appointed Minister to Russia by President
Pierce, to go as attachés to the American Legation at St. Petersburg.
The opportunity thus furnished was utilized by Dr. Gilman not only
in obtaining a certain amount of diplomatic experience, but also in
extensive trave] in England, Germany, France, and Russia, in meet-
ing men of distinction, and wherever possible in investigating edu-
cational conditions. His correspondence at this time, both public
and private, shows that he was visiting foreign libraries and institu-
tions of learning, and was widening the range of his inquiry by
studying the attitude of European States toward morality and phil-
lxti
DANIEL; COM’ GILMAN; LED: lairt
anthropy and particularly toward training in technical and scientific
schools. The thoroughness and breadth of his investigations ap-
pears in the paper entitled “ Scientific Schools in Europe,” pub-
lished on his return in Barnard’s Journal of Education, and the
direction which this study gave to his own thoughts can be inferred
from the appeal therein made for such scientific education in
America as would make it unnecessary for “ scores of young men”
to visit Europe annually “ to pursue those special courses of instruc-
tion which are there so liberally provided.” The three years’ resi-
dence abroad aroused in the mind of this young man of twenty-four
his first definite understanding of the needs of education in America
and of new reaches in the world of scholarship. Higher courses of
instructions became to him the great need of the American college.
“A school” he said, “ which, rising above those common places
which are everywhere known, should supply an education of the
most elevated order and should stimulate original inquiries and in-
vestigations, would confer unspeakable benefits upon every portion
of our country and would not be without its influence upon the
progress of humanity.” Herein is expressed the essential educa-
tional principle that was destined to play so conspicuous a part in
Dr. Gilman’s educational program; and herein lies the germ of the
Johns Hopkins Universitly. The idea was not peculiar to Dr. Gil-
man. As he himself said, ‘Throughout the civilized world the
improvement of universities was engrossing the attention of the
wisest men and the most enlightened states ;” but the important fact
remains that among the first of the wisest men was he whose three
years sojourn abroad had given him a clue to the solution of the
problem.
Returning to America in 1855 Dr. Gilman was appointed assist-
ant-librarian and afterward librarian of Yale College, a position
he held until 1865. At the same time he became chairman of the
visiting committee of the public schools of New Haven, secretary of
the State Board of Education, and co-editor with Henry Barnard
of the Connecticut Common School Journal. He travelled about the
state visiting schools and acquiring such information as to justify
his sharp and trenchant criticisms of the existing system. His
report abounds with suggestive statements: “ Bricks and mortar
laiv OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED.
however put together cannot make a good school;” “ Versatility is
far less valuable than thoroughness;” “ The first and most impor-
tant point is to train the mind, to educate the judgment, the reason,
the memory, the imagination, and the second and subordinate object
is to convey such knowledge to the scholar as may be useful to him
in life.” During this period he satisfied his lexicographical interest
by assisting in the revision of Webster’s Dictionary, and disclosed
a new specialty by preparing, in conjunction with Professor Guyot,
a series of school geographies and maps. Another trip to Europe
in 1857 supplemented the observations of the previous visit.
In 1863 Dr. Gilman was appointed professor of physical geo-
graphy in the Sheffield Scientific School, and two years later he
resigned his position as librarian, a vocation that he was not destined
to resume. Though fully appreciative of the significance of library
training and organization, as is evident from his address on Uni-
versity Libraries in 1891, it is doubtful if he ever felt much in
touch with some phases of modern library methods. He con-
centrated his attention more and more upon educational problems,
particularly upon those connected with scientific schools in America,
and devoted no little time to writing and speaking on the subject.
The decade from 1860 to 1870 was a time when the founding of
technical and industrial schools was prominently before the public,
owing in part to the passage of the Morrill Act of 1862, commonly
but erroneously called the Agricultural College Bill. When, there-
fore, in 1871, he was appointed by the government a commissioner
to investigate certain phases of the operation of this measure, he
accepted the appointment and travelled extensively, observing,
interviewing, corresponding, in order to inform himself thoroughly
of the difficulties and limitations of the project. In this case, as in
others, he found that the greatest obstacle to the success of the
undertaking lay in the scarcity of able and accomplished men as
professors in the department of science to which these institutions
were devoted.
Dr. Gilman’s connection with the Sheffield School opened a
larger field for his activity and called into play those gifts of leader-
ship and governance with which he was richly endowed. From
1865 to 1872 the chief responsibility for the direction of the school
DANIEL COIT GILMAN, LL.D. lav
rested upon his shoulders and with others he succeeded in obtaining
for it increased endowment and in raising it to a higher level of
efficiency. The success of his work in this field drew to him the
attention of those who were seeking a president for the newly
established State University of California, and in 1871 he was called
to fill that position, a call which at first he refused, but the next year
accepted. In his inaugural address, delivered in Oakland in 1872, he
laid down the principles upon which a university should be founded
and the plan thus outlined shows how broad and strong the germinal
ideas of earlier years were growing. “It is on the faculty ” he said,
“that the building of a university depends. They give their lives
to the work. It is not the site, not the apparatus, nor the halls, nor
the library, nor the board of regents, which draws the scholars; it
is the body of living teachers, skilled in the specialties, eminent
in their calling, loving to teach. Such a body of teachers will make
a university anywhere.”
The time had not yet come when those educational ideals, whieh
were finding expression in many writings of this period, though
nowhere more simply and concretely than in Dr. Gilman’s own
utterances, were to find realization. The University of California
was not to prove the laboratory in which his educational experiment
was to be tested. Hedged in by the traditions of the college out of
which it had grown, limited in its resources, and possessed of an
atmosphere that was not in all ways congenial to the broad university
policy that Dr. Gilman desired to inaugurate, the university on the
Pacific slope in a measure failed in its response to the call which Dr.
Gilman made to it. The scene of his success was not to be the West
but the East, and already in December, 1873, the death of Johns
Hopkins, a wealthy merchant and member of the Society of Friends
of Baltimore, had rendered available that great gift, the largest
known to American education up to that time, which provided for
the establishment of a new university in the city on the Patapsco.
The founding of the Johns Hopkins University took place at an
unusual time and under unusual circumstances. Never, in the his-
tory of mankind, had the question of university education been
under more careful consideration. As Dr. Gilman once said, “A
mere enumeration of the reports, histories, controversial pamphlets
PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. I9g1 E*, PRINTED JULY 8, 1909.
Lavi OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED.
and programmes on collegiate and university education which had
been printed within the years 1863-1886, would show an amount
of attention, on the part of the foremost men of the time, un-
equalled in the history of education.” But, while elsewhere it was
a question of improving existing institutions and methods, in Balti-
more it was the inauguration of a new foundation. There were no
traditions to throw off, no prejudices to combat, no denominational
interests to serve, no established routine to reform. A leader was
ready in the prime of his powers and filled with the confidence that
makes for success; the means at his disposal, though less than those
possessed by many existing colleges, were ample for the initiation
of the work, and the gift which was unrestricted by conditions was
in the hands of a remarkably able board of trustees in whom “ pro-
fessional distinctions and financial experience were happily com-
bined.”’ It is doubtful if conditions had ever been more favorable
than were those which confronted Dr. Gilman when in 1875 he
accepted the call to Baltimore, and to few men has it ever been given
to test a great ideal under such auspicious circumstances.
For twenty-five years, formative years in the history of the
higher education in this country, Dr. Gilman remained at the head
of the Johns Hopkins University. Upon both university and hos-
pital his personal character, his high ideals, and his genius for
wise and skilful organization have left their permanent impress.
I need not repeat here what others have said, with so much insight
and understanding, of Dr. Gilman’s labors in launching and guiding
these famous institutions. Si monumentum quaeris, circumspice.
During these years, under the direction of others, university stand-
ards elsewhere have sought the levels that he sought, have realized
to a greater or less degree the ideals which from earliest manhood
had shaped his own career. At the age of seventy, he laid down the
burden, his chief work in life accomplished, and his contribution
made in full measure and running over to the intellectual and
moral advancement of mankind.
Next to his greatest attainment as the “ true founder of the true
American university”? is his influence as a public-spirited citizen
and scholar, who gave generously of his time, thought, and energy
for the promotion of good and useful work in the world. To a
DANIEL COIT GILMAN, LL.D. Levit
degree not common in this day of selfish interests, he codperated
in scores of undertakings and enterprises that lay outside the legiti-
mate field of his labors. Yet to him there was no boundary line
within which his duty lay. His ideal of service was as lofty as his
ideal of scholarship, and it penetrated as deeply as the smallest
details of his private life. His sense of obligation to the student
body that surrounded him, to the community in which he lived,
and to the nation of his allegiance was highly and sensitively
developed. He became a wise and sympathetic adviser of those
who during their life at the University or afterward came to him
for help or guidance. Few who sought came away ‘without some
suggestive and pertinent comment, often aptly illustrated from his
own experience, which had a way of sticking in the mind because
born of shrewd insight and offered in kindness and without sting.
He was interested in men, not necessarily as scholars but as men,
and he was inclined to discourage mere scholarship unaccompanied
by practical application in the way of useful product. He liked to
see students taking their places in the world of affairs, each filling
a place of influence, whether as teacher or business man, lawyer
or doctor, organizer or investigator, Boniface or Benedict. He
valued success and was at all times impatient of indolence or placid
contentment. Many who came under his influence will recall his
warning against satisfaction and complacency as the enemies of
accomplishment. To him each output was but a stepping-stone to
better things. He constantly laid stress upon the minor qualifica-
tions which contribute to the effectiveness of human effort. He
pleaded for greater attention to thoroughness and accuracy,
clearness and precision in style and forms of presentation, care and
painstaking in chirography and penmanship. Master himself of a
graceful and forcible style, possessed of a neat and readable hand-
writing, and gifted with the power of selecting felicitous words and
phrases, he regretted the tendency among specialists to ignore
literary and artistic form and to grow careless, slipshod, and indif-
ferent to the manner of presentation. He drew lessons from manu-
scripts and proof-sheets, as does the preacher from stones and run-
ning brooks, and he pointed many a moral to adorn the tales that
he told of the eccentricities of genius and the literary perversities
laviir OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED.
of lesser men. The day of great things was to him the day of small
things also, and he had faith in those who forged their sentences
as a “ gold beater prepares a setting for pearls.”
His interest in the affairs of the community, the state and the
nation was that of a willing and service-loving citizen. Baltimore’s
debt to him is deep and lasting. He helped to model her charter,
he was a codperator in her charities and her philanthropies, and
was an adviser and more than an adviser in promoting her educa-
tional welfare. He was in constant demand for addresses, presen-
tations, and similar functions, both public and private. The Pea-
body Institute, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the Samuel Ready
Orphan School, the McDonogh School, the Mercantile Library, the
Municipal Art Society, the Reform Leagues in city and state, the
Charity Organization Society, and the public schools, all to a greater
or less extent, received impulse or profit from his codperation, and
no movement for good in the city and state failed to enlist his atten-
tion or his services.
That which was true of city and state was also true of the
nation. At one time or another he was president of the American
Bible Society, of the Slater Fund to educate the Freedmen, of the
National Civil Service Reform League, and of the American Social
Science Association ; he was vice-president of the Peabody Southern
Education Fund, a member of the Board of Visitors of the Naval
Academy, a trustee of the General Board to promote Education
throughout the Union and of the Russell Sage Foundation, and a
member of the Venezuelan Boundary Commission. He held these
positions not as offices of honor but as offices of trust, involving
frequent attendance, extensive travel, and wide correspondence.
In the world of scholarship as in the world of education and
philanthropy he was equally versatile and widely interested. For
thirteen years he served as president of the American Oriental So-
ciety, was a corresponding member of the British Association and
the Massachusetts Historical Society, and a member of many other
societies of an historical or scientific character. Most important of
all, he became the first president of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington founded for the promotion of scholarship and research.
These varied connections were but the outward manifestations
DANTE (COL) GIEMAN? ELD: laia
of a remarkably alert and inquisitive mind. Probably few equalled
him in the ability to grasp the essentials of a scientific or social
movement or of appreciating its deeper significance from the stand-
point of human progress. He deemed it to be his duty as well as
pleasure to understand with something more than a merely super-
ficial comprehension the recent advances in all branches of human
activity. He was not merely a wide reader, but he was also a keen
and sagacious inquirer, seeking knowledge for its own sake, and
using it to meet the demands which the world made upon him.
Whether he were addressing a geographical society, a graduating
class at the Naval Academy, or a Chamber of Commerce, he drew
from his stores of information facts pertinent to the occasion and
conclusions suggestive even to those who saw more deeply into their
specialties but not more widely the bearing of these specialties on
the world at large. He made no pretensions to specialized knowl-
edge, though in some subjects, chiefly those of an historical and a
biographical character, he was deeply versed, and the writings that
bear his name, either as author or editor, number at least half a
dozen volumes.
He was no lover of controversy. He saw in it only a grievous
intellectual waste. His kindly and sympathetic nature was opposed
to warfare of any kind and his faith in the value of cooperation led
him to regret the expenditure of time and energy in acrimonious
debate. He took no part in the conflict between science and religion,
believing that the influence of research on the whole was favorable
to the growth of spiritual life and that faith with all its fluctuations
was as permanently operative in human thought as was knowledge.
Regarding the comparative claims of literature and science, he
would avoid the issue by employing both these forces in alliance for
the promotion of intellectual and moral culture. His attitude
toward all subjects was synthetic; he would build up and not de-
stroy, and he saw in the world of intellect and applied knowledge,
as in the world of university and hospital, one common purpose to
which all efforts were contributing and should contribute. The
common good was ever present to his mind, and as he wished the
University to receive the hearty and enthusiastic support of a faculty
of many interests and many minds, so he wished the higher end
laa OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED.
for which all universities labored, the cause of civilization, to re-
ceive the same undivided support from all who were lovers of a
common humanity. Such was the sum of Dr. Gilman’s philosophy.
Of the peaceful days which preceded the end of this life of
service and blessing we have been given a beautiful picture. “I
left him,” says a friend, “last August in a lovely garden on the
shores of Lake Thun, with beautiful flowers about him, with sweet
music in his ears, and with the wonderful panorama of the Alps
spread out before his eyes. He was looking back upon a pleasant
journey and forward to some weeks of rest in this peaceful place.
His work was over and well done, he was free from care and pain,
his mind was clear and bright, and the evening of his life was un-
clouded and serene. He came home some weeks afterward, and
then died in an instant without suffering, leaving behind him no
memories which any friend would wish to change.” The circuit of
his life found singular completeness in his death. Among the kins-
men who loved him and the townsfolk who admired and revered
him, he passed away in the home of his fathers, whence he had
gone out more than sixty years before.
CuarLes M. ANDREWS.
JoHns Hopkins UNIVERSITY.
JOSEPH WHARTON, ScD! *EL:D,
(Read November 5, 1909.)
The unceasing activity of Joseph Wharton’s career of eighty-
two years came to a close on January 11, 1900, and at that period
so much was written on his personal character and business achieve-
ments that, for the records of The Philosophical Society, it seems
desirable to dwell more exclusively on the intellectual side of his
striking personality.
In men like the immortal founder of this Society—like Jefferson
and Morse and Edison—there is a many-sidedness that makes for
physical success in life, as well as for attainment in those branches
of learning which commonly yield but little gain to their professors.
The shrewdness of a man of affairs, able to shift for himself, quick
at seizing opportunities of profit and learned in the free-masonry of
trade, is mingled in such rare examples with those qualities of
mind which make for academic contemplation and the power to
assimilate knowledge, use it, and give it forth in clear and con-
vincing utterance.
There may be points of contrast in the two dissimilar human
species, but we usually associate distinct personal traits with each.
The professor is a sedentary person, who makes his somewhat
meagre living by devotion to the library, and meditative pursuits ;
the man of business is an active spirit whose busy life affords no
time for picking up useful knowledge. These two opposing orders
of men have so little in common that it is a source of wonder when
their qualities unite in a single individual. He is a marked man who
is blessed with such many-sidedness, and he has invariably become
a leader amongst his kind.
And such, in his degree, was Joseph Wharton. To use a phrase
of trade, his “business head’. was marvellous. His keen eye
seemed to see physically just what events would flow from given
causes. He could apparently look through an entanglement of
Laxt
\
lxxitt OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED.
existing affairs and coordinate their results with unerring fore-
sight. He knew every in-and-out of technical business. He rarely
received a legal paper for execution in which he could not lay his
finger on some blemish that would ultimately work detriment, and
he had some vast treasury of knowledge on all the forms for
possessing and passing real estate, upon which he could draw with
faultless memory. His command of the methods of finance was
perfect. He was by instinct a banker; and he would have been a
memorable Secretary of the Treasury, had he allowed his friends to
put forth the effort which alone was needed to elevate him to that
office. He knew how to act with deadly swiftness, and he knew
how to wait—both trading capacities of the highest order.
When, to these purely business talents, was added his technical
insight, there came forth a combination which in the realm of com-
merce was nearly irresistible. He knew chemistry and metals, not
wholly by laborious teaching in the technical school, but by that in-
stinct for driving nature to do his will which was a life-long aim.
Hence he was equipped with one ingredient when the other was
wanted, and it is the destiny of such natures to find the other. The
man who goes fishing without a hook ought not to complain if the
man with the hook catches the fish. To be up and ready is the
watch-word of such success, and up very early and ready very
eagerly Joseph Wharton always was.
Thus, he found a way to make zinc in Bethlehem, Pa., before it
was made elsewhere in the United States, and thus he was the
pioneer in the mining and manufacture of nickel in this country.
But, if the knowledge of chemistry and metallurgy ran smoothly
into the cogs of business, it also denoted that wiser and nobler side
of the mind of Joseph Wharton which threw upon the details of a
life of trade the radiance of learning; the reflection from that finer
wisdom which is not in the service of self, but exists for the better-
ing of mankind, who are kin. His instincts for affairs, for com-
merce and the exchange of commodities, were indeed a phase of
that recognition of the orderly fabric of the universe which gifted
him with insight into her functions.
But he was of that larger nature which does not stop at self,
and he went on from the level of personal accretion to that higher
JOSEPH WHARTON, ScD., LL.D. lawirr
level of genuine usefulness by the impulse in him toward those
intellectual pursuits which ordinarily monopolize the powers of their
possessor. He might be likened to an Atalanta who stopped to
pick up the golden balls so temptingly dropped on the course, who
gathered them all in safely and prudently and then, besides, won the
race. And the goal was not a mere contest of strength or endur-
ance, but an intellectual prize in which the victor came forth a
benefactor to his kind, both in giving and in knowledge, and a
benefit to himself in the resources of a full mind.
The very lack of academic education serves to measure the
native richness of Joseph Wharton’s mind. He had little schooling
and yet, as he grew old in experience and reading, he was more than
half a scholar. He had so large a miscellaneous store of facts in
his ample head that he could generalize wisely on many subjects.
This often gave his views the appearance of more exact scholarship
than he possessed. He knew chemistry as a practical user, rather
than as a student; and yet he was appointed one year to the chair of
the Visiting Committee on Chemistry to Harvard College, a compli-
ment he never forgot and always quoted with extreme satisfaction.
Indeed, he meant to recognize the distinction by a liberal endowment,
but this was one of the plans which went over the border with his
eager spirit.
If he felt the lack of some scholarly attainments, it was rather
because he disliked to be unpossessed of any branch of culture,
than because he needed them to complete his already rare equipment.
It was an early and life-long ideal of his to master mathematics.
When the Civil War broke out he, as a non-combatant by con-
viction, decided to turn all his possessions into ready securities, buy
a good stout horse and a wagon large enough for his family, and
drive with his needed impedimenta to Harvard College. There, in
academic peace, he would take a course in the higher mathematics
and perfect himself technically in those sciences which he afterwards
came to know by observation and by reading.
He was capably furnished with the elements of geology and
astronomy, and he was inquisitive in every other physicial science,
but his knowledge of botany and ornithology was not so wide. I
have known him to ride post-haste from Jamestown, R. L., to Pro-
laxitv OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED.
fessor Agassiz’s distant house in Newport with an uncommon
species of marine life for investigation, and his interest in the land
crabs of Cuba and the minor animals of the West was great; but
his mind ran rather to the larger cosmic sciences, because it was of
large mould, and was used to push ahead into speculative paths.
He lectured more than once on the moon and the Alps and
glaciers, and his overflowing store of facts came forth fluently and
without special preparation. He made a small but select collection
of such minerals as appealed to him from the industrial as well as
the scientific side; and he had gathered about him some preserved
specimens of curious animal life—and be it said to his great credit
as a humane lover of nature, he was insistent that no animal or bird
on property belonging to him should be wantonly killed. I have
heard him repeat again and again that he liked the wild things let
alone in their native lairs.
His most intimate taste was for gems, rather as natural phe-
nomena than from intrinsic worth; and his keenness in this field is
fully illustrated by an episode at a dinner table where many guests
passed around a great emerald belonging to one of the ladies.
When it came to Mr. Wharton, there was a pause as he was asked
what he thought of it. He said, with unflinching honesty, “ It would
be of immense value if it were genuine.”
His own collection of gems was not at all exhaustive, but it had
been made with discrimination and he loved to go over the stones
with some congenial hearer and give forth rare funds of interesting
data concerning each stone or species.
But the speculative side of science was, as I have said, more to
his liking than the exact. He was a sort of discoverer garbed in the
limiting drab of Friendly convention. If his spirit ever existed
before, it must have inhabited the body of a Cortez or a Cabot. He
was always seeking the ultimate ; never satisfied to rest. He would
quote with deep feeling the lines of Tennyson on “ Ulysses ”:
“Tt little profits that an idle king
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard and sleep and feed, and know not me.
IT cannot rest from travel, I will drink
Life to the lees:”
JOSEPH WHARTON, ScD., LL.D. lexv
and he was enamored with the career of Cortez in Mexico. The
field of his endeavor happened to lie in storing, not discovering
gold, and his pursuits were peaceful; but the mind that kept on the
frontier of knowledge and used the instruments of nature and busi-
ness to conquer its purposes, was necessarily a mind given to specula-
tive thought. He was not an inductive thinker, he did not pass
from the small to the great by laborious stages; he liked to reach out
into the unknown and shape his destiny with the light he could
snatch.
So it was that economics employed much of his leisure. His
dual quality led him to see from the business platform the uses of
the tariff in building up the private fortune as well as the national
wealth and independence. He was an ardent advocate of the
theories of his friend Carey; but he was much more, he was a
practical worker in the tariff toil, He formed one tariff almost
single-handed, and had a hand in many others. He fought for the
principle valiantly in speech and in print ; but he also worked behind
the guns. His speculative talents supported his “business head”’
and he demonstrated in this, as in all his other enterprises, the truth
of the axiom that “ knowledge is power.”
It was the perception of this old but too often ignored principle
that led him to suggest and endow The Wharton School of Finance
and Commerce. He knew, as few nowadays do, the intellectual
hiatus in the business life; and he thought that this form of inocula-
tion might introduce the essence of technical knowledge, along with
the humanities, into the one-sided development of the prevailing
young business man. He was a good deal disappointed in his
expectations, perhaps because the teacher of such courses is neces-
sarily a theorist ; but his example has been followed in other colleges
and in other lands, and his principle was a genuine one that it was
wise to exploit.
Then, too, his bias for speculative analysis, as well as his sturdy
independence of thought, was shown in his knowledge of the Bible,
and of the wide literature which modern criticism has produced in
exploration of its origins. He spoke German and French fami-
liarly, and these two forces had been made to serve in both his
business and his intellectual advancement; but he “had little Latin
leavi OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED.
and less Greek”? and no Hebrew. I think his onward spirit meant
to live always, and in some tranquil time-to-be, he was going to
acquire these useful aids to his mastery of Biblical research.
He had, early, a distinct talent for drawing with characteristic
preciseness and he produced a medal or two and carved an intaglio
which showed fidelity to line rather than breadth of view; and he
later wrote verse with facility and sentiment. But he had, as
Franklin had, and all men of his frugal stamp, but little taste in
esthetics, saving when they applied to the bolder treatment of nature
in landscape gardening, or rather to the good sense of leaving
natural landscape as near its own forms as is consistent with human
comfort. He had but limited ear for music, although he would sing
with hearty exuberance; but he had amazing wit and humor and
some of his droll stories or poems are enduringly funny.
Such, briefly, was Joseph Wharton. His life was one of phys-
ical and mental action, and such lives make lasting biographies.
Only one of his versatile characteristics has been dwelt on here, and
the record in mere outline has already overpassed the limit. As
he stood, a manly figure, at the threshold of our new business and
intellectual life, as he was a leading figure in the formation of the
new navy which so easily dispatched Spain, as he invented new
avenues of manufacture and a form of education not before tried,
as he helped to cast the shield of protection over industries unde-
veloped by reason of too little self-respect—he is a man marked out
as an example and a guide for oncoming men, and the record of his
many useful years should one day be made to endure in the pages
of a fitting biography.
Harrison S. Morris.
MINUTES:
MINUTES.
Stated Meeting January 1, 1900.
Mr. J. G. RoOSENGARTEN in the Chair.
The decease was announced of Dr. Richard A. F. Penrose at
Philadelphia, on December 26, 1908, aged 81.
Mr. R. H. Mathews, of Paramatta, N. S. Wales, presented a
paper on “Ceremonial Stones used by the Australian Aborigines.”
The Judges of the Annual Election of Officers and Councillors
held on this day, between the hours of two and five in the afternoon,
reported that the following named persons were elected, according
to the laws, regulations and ordinances of the Society, to be the
officers for the ensuing year.
President:
William W. Keen.
Vice-Presidents:
William B. Scott, Simon Newcomb, Albert A. Michelson.
Secretaries:
I, Minis Hays, James W. Holland,
Arthur W. Goodspeed, Amos P. Brown.
Curators:
Charles L. Doolittle, © William P. Wilson, Leslie W. Miller.
Treasurer:
Henry La Barre Jayne.
Councillors:
(To serve for three years.)
Charlemagne Tower, William Gilson Farlow,
Robert S. Woodward, Re As Fy Penrose, Js:
il
iv MINUTES. [January 9,
Special Meeting January 9, 1909.
WILLIAM W. KEEN, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
Professor J. P. Mahaffy, of Trinity College, Dublin, read a
paper on “ The Irish Race.”
Stated Meeting January 15, 1900.
WILLIAM W. KEEN, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
Dr. Barton C. Hirst read an obituary notice of Dr. R. A. F.
Penrose. (See page /vitit.)
The decease was announced of the following members:
Prof. George E. Hough, at Evanston, Ill., on January 1,
1909, zt. 72.
Mr. Joseph Wharton, at Philadelphia, on January 11, 1909,
zet. 82.
The following papers were read:
“Some Aspects of the Question of English Speaking,” by Prof.
J. W. Bright. (Introduced by Dr. W. W. Keen.) Discussed by
Prof. Schelling, Prof. Learned and Dr. Keen.
“The Solgram System of Color Photography,” by Mr. W. C.
South. (Introduced by Dr. W. W. Keen.)
Stated Meeting February 5, 1909.
Wiuram W. Keen, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
An invitation was received from the New York Academy of
Sciences to attend its Darwin Centenary Commemoration on Feb-
ruary 12. Prof. Henry Kraemer, President Henry S. Pritchett and
Prof. E. G. Conklin, were appointed to represent the Society on
the occasion.
The decease was announced of Mr. Charles Platt, at Philadel-
phia, on January 23, 1909, aged 8o.
Prof. E. G. Conklin offered a minute in commemoration of the
centenary of the birth of Charles Darwin (see page /vi) which was
unanimously adopted.
Prof. Maurice Bloomfield read a paper on “ The Hindu Idea,”
which was discussed by Prof. Jastrow.
1909.] MINUTES. Vv
Stated Meeting February 19, 1909.
Witiiam W. KEEN, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
Prof. Charles M. Andrews, of Johns Hopkins University, pre-
sented an obituary notice of President Daniel C. Gillman. (Com-
municated by Dr. W. W. Keen.) (See page /vii.)
The decease was announced of Mr. Robert Patterson, at Blacks-
burg, Va., on February 14, 1909, zt. 90.
Mr. Frederick H. Newell, director of the U. S. Reclamation
Service, introduced by the President, presented a paper on “ The
Conservation of Water Resources in the Western United States.”
Special Meeting March 3, 1909.
WILLIAM W. KEEN, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
Hon. Charlemagne Tower read a paper on “Diplomatic Life
and Diplomatic Usage.”
Stated Meeting March 5, 1909.
WiLL1AM W. KEEN, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
The decease was announced of the following members:
Prof. Guillaume Lambert, at Brussels, on February 22, 1909,
aged 92.
Prof. James W. Moore, M.D., at Easton, Pa., on February 28,
1909, zt. 64.
Mr. William R. Blair, director of the Research Observatory of
the U. S. Weather Bureau, introduced by the President, read a
paper on “ The Exploration of the Upper Air by means of Kites
and Balloons.” (See page 25.) Discussed by Mr. Lehman and
Mr. Goodwin.
Stated Meeting March 19, 1909.
WILLIAM W. KEEN, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
The decease was announced of Prof. Martin Hans Boyé, at
Coopersburg, Pa., on March 5, 1909, aged 97.
The following papers were read:
“On Coal Tar Products and their Application in the Arts and
vi MINUTES. [April 24,
Medicine,” by Prof. Marston T. Bogert, introduced by the Presi-
dent, which was discussed by Prof. Keller, Mr. Du Bois, Dr. Hol-
land, Prof. Kraemer and Prof. Bogert.
“Recent Surgical Progress,” by Dr. W. W. Keen.
Stated Meeting April 2, 1909.
Witiiam W. KEEN, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
The decease was announced of Dr. William Henry Wahl, at
Philadelphia, on March 23, 1909, et. 60.
Prof. A. V. Williams Jackson, of Columbia University, intro-
duced by the President, read a paper on “ Mithraism and Mani-
cheism—Two Developments of Early Persian Religious Thought.”
Discussed by Prof. Jastrow.
Stated Meeting April 16, 1900.
I. Mints: Hays, Secretary, in the Chair.
The disease was announced of Dr. Persifor Frazer, at Phila-
delphia, on April 7, 1909, aged 65.
General Meeting April 22, 23 and 24, 1900.
Thursday, April 22. Opening Session—2 o’clock.
WiLtiAmM W. KEEN, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
The following papers were read:
“The American-British Atlantic Fisheries Question,” by Thomas
William Balch, of Philadelphia.
“The Nation and the Waterways,” by Prof. Lewis M. Haupt,
of Philadelphia. Discussed by Dr. Cyrus Adler.
“The Evolution of the City of Rome from its Origin to the
Gallic Catastrophe,” by Prof. Jesse B. Carter, of Rome, Italy.
(Communicated by the President.) Discussed by Dr. W. W. Keen.
“Why America Should Reéxplore Wilkes’ Land,’ by Edwin
Swift Balch, of Philadelphia. Discussed by Admiral Melville, Mr.
H. G. Bryant and Dr. W. W.. Keen.
“The Volcanic Formations of Java,” by Henry G. Bryant, of
Philadelphia.
1909.] MINUTES. vii
The following preamble and resolutions were unanimously
adopted:
Whereas, The United States in former years made many bril-
liant discoveries in the Antarctic, including the continent of Ant-
arctica by Charles Wilkes, and
Whereas, The United States has not taken any part in the
recent scientific explorations of the South Polar regions, there-
fore be it
Resolved, That The American Philosophical Society requests
the cooperation of the scientific and geographical societies of this
country to urge on the Government of the United States that it do
make sufficient appropriations to send a vessel, under the direction
of the Secretary of the Navy, to thoroughly explore and survey the
coast of Wilkes Land, and other parts of Antarctica.
Friday, April 23. Executive Session—1o o’clock.
WiLLiaAM W. KEEN, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
Prof. Josiah Royce (elected 1908) was admitted into the
Society.
The proceedings of the Officers and Council were submitted.
Morning Session—10.05 o'clock.
WILLIAM W. KEEN, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
“The Brains of Two White Philosophers and of Two Obscure
Negroes” (illustrated by specimens and diagrams), by Prof. Burt
G> Wilder, of Ithaca; N: ¥... Discussed by Dr: E. A. Spitzka.
“Some Conditions Modifying the Interpretation of Human
Brain Weight Records,” by Dr. H. H. Donaldson, of Philadelphia.
“Some Notes on the Modification of Color in Plants,” by Prof.
Henry Kraemer, of Philadelphia. Discussed by Prof. Harshberger,
Prof. Hobbs, Prof. W. T. Hewett and Prof. Kraemer.
“Comparative Leaf Structure of the New Jersey Strand Plants,”
by Prof. John W. Harshberger, of Philadelphia. Discussed by
Prof. Wilder and Mr. Harrison S. Morris.
“The Composition of Chrysocolla,’ by Prof. Harry F. Keller,
of Philadelphia.
Vili MINUTES. [April 24,
“The Chemical Work of the U.S. Geological Survey,” by Frank
Wigglesworth Clarke, of Washington.
“Recent Work on the Physics of the Ether,” by Paul R. Heyl,
of Philadelphia. (Introduced by Prof. Harry F. Keller.)
“Effect of Bleaching Powder Upon Bacterial Life in Water,”
by Prof. William Pitt Mason, M.D., of Troy, N. Y. Discussed by
Prof. Kraemer and Dr. W. J. Holland.
“The Detonation of Gun Cotton,” by Prof. Charles E. Munroe,
of Washington.
On motion it was ordered that a telegram conveying the Society’s
good wishes and great regret at his absence from the meeting be
sent to Prof. Simon Newcomb. To this telegram a reply was re-
ceived from Prof. Newcomb thanking the Society for its kind greet-
ings which he highly appreciated.
Afternoon Session—2.30 o’clock.
Wi.iiAM B. Scott, LL.D., Vice-President, in the Chair.
“South American Fossil Cetacea,” by Dr. Frederick W. True,
of Washington. Discussed by Prof. W. B. Scott.
“The Destruction of the Fresh Water Fauna of Western Penn-
sylvania,” by Dr. Arnold E. Ortman, of Pittsburgh.
“The Stratigraphic Position of the Oolitic Iron-Ore at Blooms-
burg, Pa.,” by Gilbert van Ingen, of Princeton. (Introduced by
Prof. W. Bs Scott)
ALBERT A. MICHELSON, LL.D., Vice-President, in the Chair.
“Machines and Engineering in the Renaissance and in Classical
Antiquity,” by Prof. Christian Htlsen, of Rome Italy. (Intro-
duced by Dr. W. W. Keen.)
“On the Extent and Number of the Indo-European Peoples,”
by Prof. Maurice Bloomfield, of Baltimore.
““A Mechanical Device for the Tabulation of the Sums of
Numerous Variable Functions,’ by Prof. Ernest W. Brown, of
New Haven.
“The Burning Bush and the Origin of Judaism,” by Prof. Paul
Haupt, of Baltimore.
1909. ] MINUTES. ix
“On Certain Generalizations of the Problem of Three Bodies,”
by President Edgar Odell Lovett, of Houston, Texas.
“ Penrose’s Graphical Method for Orbit Determination,” by Prof.
Eric Doolittle, of Flower Observatory, Philadelphia.
Evening Session.
WittiaM W. KEEN, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
Commemoration of the Centenary of Charles Darwin's Birth
(February 12, 1809) and the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Publica-
tion of the “Origin of Species” (November 24, 1859).
The following addresses were delivered:
“Personal Reminiscences of Charles Darwin and of the Recep-
tion of the ‘ Origin of Species.” by His Excellency, the Right Hon-
orable James Bryce, British Ambassador at Washington.
“The Influence of Darwin on Natural Science,” by Prof. George
Lincoln Goodale, of Cambridge.
“The Influence of Darwin on the Mental and Moral Sciences,”
by Prof. George Stuart Fullerton, of New: York.
Attention was called to the fact that there were two members of
the Society still living who were friends and colaborers of Charles
Darwin—Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker and Dr. Alfred Russell Wal-
lace, and it was ordered that on the occasion of this Commemoration
the Society transmit by cable to them its greetings and congratula-
tions on the general acceptance of the views in the elaboration and
promulgation of which they took an active and effective part.
Saturday, April 24. Executive Session—10 o’clock.
Atsert A. Micuetson, LL.D., Vice-President, in the Chair.
Candidates for membership were balloted for, and the tellers
reported the election of the following:
Residents of the United States.
Louis A. Bauer, Ph.D. (Berlin), Washington, D. C.
Marston Taylor Bogert, New York City.
Hermon Carey Bumpus, Ph.D., New York City.
Alexis Carrel, M.D., New York City.
x MINUTES. [April 24,
Edwin Brant Frost, Williams Bay, Wis.
Robert Almer Harper, Ph.D., Madison, Wis.
William Herbert Hobbs, Ph.D., Ann Arbor, Mich.
A. V. Williams Jackson, Ph.D., LL.D., Yonkers, N. Y.
John Frederick Lewis, Philadelphia.
Abbott Lawrence Lowell, Boston, Mass.
William Romaine Newbold, Ph.D., Philadelphia.
Charles Bingham Penrose, M.D., Ph.D., Philadelphia.
William Howard Taft, Washington.
Charles Richard Van Hise, M.S., LL.D., Madison, Wis.
Victor Clarence Vaughan, M.D., Sc.D., LL.D., Ann Arbor, Mich.
Foreign Residents.
Francis Darwin, M.A., F.R.S., Cambridge, Eng.
Hermann Diels, Ph.D., Berlin.
Emil Fischer, Ph.D., M.D., Berlin.
Friedrich Kohlrausch, Ph.D., Marburg.
Wilhelm Pfeffer, Ph.D., Leipzig.
Morning Session.
AuBert A. Micuetson, LL.D., Vice-President, in the Chair.
Prof. Robert William Wood (elected 1908) and Dr. Louis A.
Bauer, a newly elected member, were admitted into the Society.
The following papers were read:
“On the Remarkable Changes in the Tail of Comet C. 1908
(Morehouse), and On a Theory to Account for these Changes,” by
Prof. E. E. Barnard, of Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, Wis.
Discussed by Prof. M. B. Snyder, Prof. Michelson, Dr. George F.
Becker and Prof. Ernest W. Brown.
“The Past History of the Earth as Inferred from the Mode of
Formation of the Solar System,” by Dr. T. J. J. See, of U. S. Naval
Observatory, Mare Island, Cal.
“ The Linear Resistance between Parallel Conducting Cylinders,”
by Prof. A. E. Kennelly, of Cambridge.
“Vacuum Effects in Electrical Discharge around a Right Angle
in a Wire,” by Prof. Francis E. Nipher, of St. Louis.
“ The Ruling of Diffraction Gratings,” by Prof. Albert A. Mich-
1909.4 MINUTES. xi
elson, of Chicago. Discussed by Prof. Robert W. Wood, Prof. M.
B. Snyder and Prof. Doolittle.
“On an Adjustment for a Plane Grating similar to Rowland’s
for the Concave Grating,” by Prof. Carl Barus, assisted by M. Barus,
of Providence.
“The Electron Method of Standardizing the Coronas of Cloudy
Condensation,” by Prof. Carl Barus, of Providence.
“The Electrometric Measurements of the Potential Difference
between two Conductors of a Condenser containing a highly Ionized
Medium,” by Prof. Carl Barus, of Providence.
“Solar Activity and Terrestrial Magnetic Disturbances,” by Dr.
L. A. Bauer, of Washington. Discussed by Prof. Kennelly and Dr.
Bauer.
“The Effect of Temperature on the Absorption Spectra of Cer-
tain Solutions,’ by Prof. Harry C. Jones, of Baltimore. (Intro-
duced by President Ira Remsen.)
“The Specific Chemo-Therapy of the Protozoal Diseases,” by
Dr. Simon Flexner, of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re-
search, New York.
“The Unsuspected Presence of Habit-Forming Agents in Bever-
ages and Medicines,’ by Dr. Lyman F. Kebler, of Washington.
(Introduced by Dr. Harvey W. Wiley.) Discussed by Dr. E. A.
Spitzka and Dr. Kebler.
Afternoon Session—2.30 o’clock.
Witu1aM B. Scott, LL.D., Vice-President, in the Chair.
Prof. William Herbert Hobbs and Mr. Abbott Lawrence Lowell,
newly elected members, were admitted into the Society.
The following papers were read:
Symposium on Earthquakes.
“ Tntroduction—Classification—Discussion of Volcanic Earth-
quakes—Description, with illustrations, of the Charleston, S. C., and
Kingston, Jamaica, Disasters,” by Prof. Edmund O. Hovey, of New
York. (Introduced by Prof. W. B. Scott.)
“The Present Status and the Outlook of Seismic Geology,” by
Prof. William H. Hobbs, of Ann Arbor, Mich.
Xil MINUTES. [May 21,
“Conditions Leading to Tectonic Earthquakes—Instruments
used in the Study of Earthquakes—Suggestions for a National Seis-
mological Bureau,” by Prof. Harry F. Reid, of Baltimore. (Intro-
duced by Prof. W. B. Scott.)
These three papers were discussed by Profs. Michelson, William
Morris Davis, W. H. Hobbs, H. F. Reid and W. B. Scott.
The following preamble and resolutions were presented and
unanimously adopted:
Whereas, Earthquakes have been the cause of great loss of life
and property within the territory of the United States and its posses-
sions, as well as in other countries, and
Whereas, It is only through the scientific investigation of the
phenomena that there is hope of discovering the laws which govern
them, so as to predict their occurrence and to reduce the danger to
life and property, and
Whereas, Such investigations can be successfully conducted only
with the support of the general government, be it, therefore,
Resolved, That this Society urge upon Congress the establish-
ment of a National Bureau of Seismology, and suggest that this
bureau be organized under the Smithsonian Institution with the
active cooperation of the other scientific departments of the govern-
ment and that this bureau be charged with the following duties:
(a) The collection of seismological data.
(b) The establishment of observing stations.
(c) The organization of an expeditionary corps for the investi-
gation of special earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in any part of
the world.
(d) The study and investigation of special earthquake regions
within the National domain. And
Resolved, That copies of these resolutions be transmitted to the
President, to the President of the Senate, to the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, and to the Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution.
1909.] MINUTES. Xili
Stated Meeting May 7, 19009.
Witt1am W. KEEN, LL.D., President, in the Chair.
Dr. Charles B. Penrose, Mr. John Frederick Lewis and Prof.
William Romaine Newbold, newly elected members, were admitted
into the Society.
Letters accepting membership were read from:
Louis A. Bauer, Ph.D. (Berlin), Washington, D.C.
Marston Taylor Bogert, New York.
Hermon Carey Bumpus, Ph.D., New York City.
Alexis Carrel, M.D., New York City.
Edwin Brant Frost, Williams Bay, Wis.
a. V= Walliams) -Jackson, Ph.D: Lap) Yonkers, Ni. Y:
John Frederick Lewis, Philadelphia.
William Romaine Newbold, Ph.D., Philadelphia.
Charles Bingham Penrose, M.D., Ph.D., Philadelphia.
William Howard Taft, Washington.
Charles Richard Van Hise, M.S., LL.D., Madison, Wis.
Victor Clarence Vaughan, M.D.,Sc.D., LL.D., Ann Arbor, Mich.
A letter was received from Dr. Alfred Russell Wallace, thank-
ing the Society for its kind greetings sent when celebrating Darwin’s —
centenary. (See page ix.)
The decease was announced of Mr. Andrew Mason, at New
York, on April 28, 1909, aged 80.
Dr. Alexander Graham Bell read a paper an “ Aérial Locomo=
tion,’ which was discussed by Mr. A. E. Lehman and Prof. M. B.
Snyder.
Stated Meeting May 21, 1909.
Mr. H. La Barre Jayne, Treasurer, in the Chair.
Letters accepting membership were read from:
Francis Darwin, M.A., F.R.S., Cambridge, Eng.
. Hermann Diels, Ph.D., Berlin.
Emil Fischer, Ph.D., M.D., Berlin.
Friedrich Kohlrausch, Ph.D., Marburg.
Wilhelm Pfeffer, Ph.D., Leipzig.
A letter was received from Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker expressing
X1V MINUTES. [May 21,
his thanks for the Society’s greeting conveyed by cablegram on the
occasion of the commemoration of the centenary of Charles Darwin.
(See page ic.)
An invitation was read from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology inviting the Society to be represented at the inaugura-
tion of Dr, Richard C.’Maclaurin as’ President; on June 7.) )@na
motion the President was authorized to appoint such a representative.
The decease was announced of Dr. C. Newlin Peirce, at Phila-
delphia, on May 16, 1909, aged 80. “
Mr. R. H. Mathews read a paper on “Some Burial Customs of
the Australian Aborigines.”
Stated Meeting, October 1, 1909.
Witii1am W. KEEN, M.D., LL.D., President, in the Chair.
Mr. James Christie, elected to membership in 1908, was admitted
into the Society.
A letter accepting membership was received from Prof. Robert
Ai iarper:
Invitations were received:
From the University of Geneva to be represented at the Cele-
bration of the 350th Anniversary of the foundation of the
University.
From the President and Fellows of Harvard University to be
represented at the inauguration of Abbott Lawrence Lowell,
LL.D., as President of Harvard University.
The decease was announced of the following members:
Dr. Aristides Brezina, at Vienna, on May 25, 1909, et. 62.
Dr. Edward Everett Hale, at Roxbury, Mass., on June 10, 1909,
zt. 87.
Prof. Simon Newcomb, at Washington, on July 11, 1909, et. 74.
Dr. Henry C. Chapman, at Bar Harbor, Me., on September 7,
1909, zt. 64.
Dr. Anton Dohrn, at Naples, on September 26, 1909, zet. 68.
The following papers were presented:
“The Vertebrates of the Cayuga Lake Basin, N. Y.,” by men
1909. ] MINUTES. XV
D. Reed and Albert H. Wright. (Communicated by Prof.
Burt G. Wilder.)
“Further Notes on Ceremonial Stones, Australia,” by R. H.
Mathews.
Stated Meeting, October 15, 19009.
WILLIAM W. KEEN, M.D., LL.D., President, in the Chair.
The decease was announced of Prof. Otto Donner, at Helsing-
fors, on September 17, 1909.
Dr. Randle C. Rosenberger read a paper on “ Typhoid Carriers.”
Stated Meeting, November 5, 1900.
Wituiam W. KEEN, M.D., LL.D., President, in the Chair.
Invitations were received:
From the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, inviting the
Society to be represented at the dedication of its New Hall.
From the XVIIth International Congress of Americanists to be
represented at the Congress to be held first at Buenos Aires
from May 16 to 21, 1910, and then in the City of Mexico in
the following September.
The decease was announced of:
Henry Charles Lea, LL.D., at Philadelphia, on October 24,
1909, zt. 84.
Hon. William Butler, at West Chester, Pa., on November 3,
LQOOs iy S77:
Mr. Harrison S. Morris read an obituary notice of Mr. Joseph
Wharton.
Dr. W. B. Cannon read a paper on “The Correlation of the
Gastric and Intestinal Digestive Processes and the Influence of
Emotions upon Them.”
Mr. John C. Willis, Director of the Royal Botanic Garden, Co-
lombo, read a paper on “ The Vegetation of Ceylon.”
Stated Meeting, November 19, 1909.
WILLIAM W. KEEN, M.D., LL.D., President, in the Chair.
Prof. C. L. Doolittle read a paper on “ Halley’s Comet.”
xvi MINUTES. [November 19,
Prof. Edward C. Pickering was elected a Vice-President to fill
the unexpired term of the late Prof. Simon Newcomb.
Stated Meeting, December 3, 1900.
WILLIAM W. KEEN, M.D., LL.D., President, in the Chair.
An invitation was received from the president of the Eighth
International Zoological Congress to send delegates to the Congress
to be held at Graz, Austria, from August 15 to 20, 1910.
Prof. E. P. Cheyney read a paper on “ The Court of Star Cham-
ber in the Time of Queen Elizabeth and the Early Stuarts.”
Stated Meeting, December 17, 1909.
WILLIAM W. KEEN, M.D., LL.D., President, in the Chair.
The decease was announced of M. Serge Nikitin, at St. Peters-
burg, on November 18, 1909.
The Annual Address of the President was delivered by Dr.
William W. Keen.
Dr. Edward Meyer, of Berlin, read a paper entitled “ The Story
of the Wise Ahikar.”’
INDEX.
A
Absorption spectra of certain solu-
tions, effect of temperature on,
194, Xi
Aérial locomotion, xiii
Ahikar, story of the Wise, xvi
Air, exploration of the upper, by
means of kites and balloons, 8, v
Australian aborigines, burial customs
of, 313, xiv
B
Bacterial life in water, effect of
bleaching powder upon, viil
Balch, Edwin Swift, Why America
should re-explore Wilkes Land, 34,
vi, vil
Thomas Willing, The American-
British Atlantic Fisheries Ques-
tion, 319, vi
Barnard, remarkable changes in the
tail of Comet C, 1908 (More-
house), x
Barus, adjustment for a plane grat-
ing, 166, xi
—— electrometric measurement of
the voltaic potential difference be-
tween the two conductors Ola
condenser, I80, xi
electron method of Gt alanain
ing the coronas of cloudy conden-
sation, 177, xi
Bauer, solar activity and terrestrial
magnetic disturbances, xi
Bell, aérial locomotion, xiii
Beverages and medicines,
forming agents in, xi
Blair, exploration of the upper air
by means of kites and ballons, 8, v
Bloomfield, extent and number of
the Indo-European peoples, vill
habit-
Bogert, coal tar products and their
application in the arts and medi-
cine, v, vi
Brain weight records, some condi-
tions modifying the interpretation
of human, vii
Brains of two white philosophers
and two obscure negroes, vii
Bright, some aspects of the question
of English speaking, iv
Brown, device for tabulation of the
sums of numerous variable func-
tions, vili
Bryant, voleanic formations of Java,
vi
Bryce, personal reminiscences of
Charles Darwin and the reception
of “The Origin of Species,” iii, xi
Burial customs of the Australian
aborigines, 313, xiv
Bush, The Burning, and the origin
of ‘Judaism, 354, vill
C
Cannon, correlation of the gastric
and intestinal digestive processes
and the influence of emotions upon
them, xv
Carter, evolution of the city of
Rome from its origin to the Gallic
Catastrophe, 1209, vi
Cetacea, South American fossil, viii
Cheyney, The Court of Star Cham-
ber in the time of Elizabeth and
the early Stuarts, xvi
Chrysocolla from Chile, 65, vii
Clarke, chemical work of the U. S.
Geological Survey, viii
Coal tar products and their applica-
tion in the arts and medicine, v, vi
College of Physicians, invitation to
dedication of its new Hall, xv
Color in plants, modification of, vii
Comet C, remarkable changes in the
tail of, 1908 (Morehouse), x
Condenser, electrometric measure-
ment of the Voltaic potential dif-
ference between the two conduc-
tors of a, 1890, xi
Conklin, the world’s debt to Darwin,
HLXVIU
——appointed Delegate to N. Y.
Academy of Sciences, iv
Coronas of cloudy condensation, 177,
i:
Cylinders, linear resistance between
parallel conducting, 142, x
XVi11
Xvili
D
Darwin, centenary of, and 5oth An-
niversary of publication of “the
Origin of Species,” ix
—— — Invitation tromuN. Yo Acad—
emy of Sciences to, iv
influence of, on the mental and
moral sciences, 7xv, 1x
—— — — natural sciences, rv
— personal reminiscences of, and
of the reception of “The Origin
of Species,” 1, ix
the world’s debt to, xaxxviit
Device for tabulation of the sums
of numerous variable functions, viii
Digestive processes, the correlation
of the gastric and intestinal, and
the influence of emotions upon
them, xv
‘Diplomatic life
usage, v
Donaldson, some conditions modify-
ing the interpretation of human
brain weight-records, vii
Doolittle, Charles L., Halley’s Comet,
XV
—— Eric, Penrose’s graphical method
for orbit determination, ix
and diplomatic
E
Earth, past history of the, as in-
ferred from the mode of forma-
tion of the solar system, I19
Earthquakes, their causes and ef-
fects, 235, xi
——, symposium on, xi, xii
Election of members, ix
—— of Officers and Councillors, iii
Electrometric measurements of the
potential difference between two
conductors of a condenser, 1890, xi
English speaking, some aspects of
the question of, iv
Ether, recent work on the physics
of the, vili
F
Fauna, destruction of the fresh-
water, in western Pennsylvania,
90, Vili
Fisheries question, the American—
British Atlantic, 319, vi
Flexner, specific chemo-therapy of
the protozoal diseases, xi
Fullerton, influence of Darwin on the
mental and moral sciences, rxv, ix
INDEX.
G
Geology, seismic, the present status
and outlook of, 250, xi
Gilman, obituary notice of Daniel
Coit, lxit, v
Goodale, influence of Darwin on the
natural sciences, xv, 1x
Grating, an adjustment for a plane,
166, xi
Gratings, the ruling of diffraction, x
Greetings and congratulations cabled
to Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker and
Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, ix
Gun cotton, detonation of, 60, viii
H
Halley’s Comet, xv
Harshberger, comparative leaf struc-
ture of the strand plants of New
Jersey, 72, vii
Harvard University, invitation to in-
auguration of its President, xix
Haupt, Lewis M., the nation and the |
waterways, 5I, vi
Paul, The Burning Bush and the
origin of Judaism, 354, vili
Heyl, recent work on the physics of
the ether, viii
Hindu Idea, iv
Hirst, obituary notice of R. A. F.
Penrose, Iviii
Hobbs, the present status and out-
look of seismic geology, 259, xi
Hooker, acknowledgment of greet-
ings, xili
—— greetings
cabled to, ix
Hovey, earthquakes, their causes and
effects, 235, xi
Hiilsen, machines and engineering in
the renaissance, viii
and congratulations
I
Indo-European peoples, viii
van Ingen, stratigraphic position of
the Oolitic iron-ore at Blooms-
burg, Pa., viii
International Congress of American-
ists, invitation, xv
International Zoological
invitation, xvi
Irish race, Prof. Mahaffy on, iv
Iron-ore, stratigraphic position of
the Oolitic—at Bloomsburg, Pa.,
viii
Congress,
INDEX.
|
Jackson, mithraism and manechzism,
vi
Jones and Strong, effect of tempera-
ture on the absorption spectra of
certain solutions, 194, xi
Judaism, origin of, and The Burn-
ing Bush, 354, viii
K
Kebler, the unsuspected presence of
habit- forming agents in beverages
and medicines, xi
Keen, recent surgical progress, vi
Keller, new variety of chrysocolla
from Chile, 65, vii
Kennelly, linear resistance between
parallel conducting cylinders, 142,
x
Kraemer, delegate to N. Y. Acad-
emy of Sciences, iv
—., modification in color plants, vii
L
Leaf structure of the strand plants
of New, Jersey, 72, vii
Lovett, certain generalizations of the
Problem of Three Bodies, 111, ix
M
Machines and engineering in the re-
naissance, etc., vill
Mahaftfy, the Irish race, iv
Mason, effect. of bleaching powder
upon bacterial life in water, viii
——, purification of water supplies
by use of hypochlorites, 67
Massachusetts Institute of Technol-
ogy, invitation to inauguration of
its President, xiv
Mathews, burial customs of the Aus-
tralian aborigines, 313, xiv
, ceremonial stones used by Aus-
tralian aborigines, i, 460, iil, xv
Meeting, General, vi
——, Special, iv
——., Stated, iii
Members deceased: .
Boye, Martin Hans, v
Brezina, Aristides, xiv
Butler, Hon. William, xv
Chapman, Henry C., xiv
Dohrn, Anton, xiv
Donner, Otto, xv
Frazer, Persifor, vi
Hale, Edward Everett, xiv
Hough, George E., iv
xix
Lambert, Guillaume, v
Lea, Henry C., xv
Mason, Andrew, xiii
Moore, James W., v
Newcomb, Simon, xiv
Nikitin, Serge, xvi
Patterson, Robert, v
Peirce, C. Newlin, xiv
Penrose, Richard A. F., iii
Platt, Charles, iv
Wahl, William Henry, vi
Wharton, Joseph, iv
— elected:
Bauer, Louis A., ix
Bogert, Marston Taylor, ix
Bumpus, Hermon Carey, ix
Carrel, Alexis, ix
Darwin, Francis, x
Diels, Hermann, x
Fischer, Emil, x
~Frost, Edwin Brant, x
Harper, Robert Almer, x
Hobbs, William Herbert, x
Jackson, A. V. Williams, x
Kohlrausch, Friedrich, x
Lewis, John Frederick, x
Lowell, Abbott Lawrence, x
Newbold, William Romaine, x
Penrose, Charles Bingham, x
Pfeffer, Wilhelm, x
Taft, William Howard, x
Van Hise, Charles Richard, x
Vaughan, Victor Clarence, x
presented, viii, x, xi, xiii, xiv
Membership accepted, xili, xiv
Meyer, the story of the Wise Ahikar,
xvi
Michelson, the ruling of diffraction
gratings, x
Mithraism and Manichaeism, vi
Morris, obituary notice of Joseph
Wharton, lax
Munroe, detonation of gun cotton,
69, viii
N
Nation and the waterways, 51, vi
Natural sciences, influence of Dar-
win on, ix
Newcomb, Simon, telegram of sym-
pathy sent to, viii
Newell, the conservation of water
resources in the western United
States, v
New York Academy of Sciences, in-
vitation to Darwin Centenary, iv
Nipher, vacuum effects in electrical
discharge around a right angle in
a wire, x
DO.4 INDEX.
0)
ee notice of Daniel C. Gilman,
cM, V
R. A. F. Penrose, /viii, iv
Joseph Wharton, lrxi, xv
Orbit determination, Penrose’s
method for, ix
Origin of Species, commemoration
of 50 5oth anniversary of publication
@
Otimadn destruction of the fresh-
water fauna in western Pennsyl-
vania, 90, viii
P
Penrose, R. A. F., obituary notice of,
lviti, iv
Photography, the solgram system of
color, iv
Pickering, elected Vice-President,
Xvi
Plants, comparative leaf structure of
the strand, of New Jersey, 72, vii
President’s annual address, xvi
Pritchett, delegate to N. Y. Academy
of Sciences, iv
Protozoal diseases, xi
R
Reed and Wright, the vertebrates of
the Cayuga Lake Basin, N. Y., 370,
XIV
Reid, seismological notes, 303, xii
Rome, the evolution of the city of,
120, vi
Rosenberger, typhoid carriers, xv
S)
See. the past history of the earth as
inferred from the mode of forma-
tion of the solar system, 110, x
Seismic geology, 250, xi
Seismological notes, 303, xii
Solar activity and terrestrial mag-
netic disturbances, xi
South, the solgram system of color-
photography, iv
Star Chamber, Court of, in the time
of Elizabeth and the early Stuarts,
xvi
Stones, ceremonial, used by the Aus-
tralian aborigines, i, 460, 1, iii
by
Temperature, effect of, on the ab-
sorption spectra of certain solu-
tions, 194, xi
Three Bodies, generalizations of the
problem of, III, iii, viii
Tower, diplomatic life and diplomatic
usage, V
True, South American fossil cetacea,
viii
Typhoid carriers, xv
U
U. S. Geological Survey, chemical
work of the, viii
University of Geneva, invitation to
350th anniversary, xiv
Vv
Vacuum effects in electrical dis-
charge around a right angle in a
wire, x
Vegetation of Ceylon, xv
Vertebrates of the Cayuga Lake
Basin Ne ay., 9370
Vice-President elected, xvi
Volcanic formations of Java, vi
Ww
Wallace, acknowledgment of greet-
ings, xill
greetings and congratulations
cabled to, ix
Water resources, the conservation of,
in the western United States, v
supplies, purification of, by use
of hypochlorites, 67
Waterways, the Nation and the, 51
Wharton, Joseph, obituary notice of,
lexi, XV
Wilder, brains of two white philoso-
phers and of two obscure negroes,
Villines
Wilkes Land, why America should
* reéxplore, 34, vi, vii
Willis, vegetation of Ceylon, xv
ry
fs
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